Carcillo Hearing Pending, Suspended Indefinately

Daniel Carcillo recieved a five minute major and a game misconduct for boarding. There was injury on the play (on both sides). Until his hearing, he will not play in the NHL.

The hearing has not been set. Chicago plays again on Thursday.

This is the second time Carcillo has been suspended this season.


Link to video

As you can see, he was suspended for a hit that, arguably, was not nearly as violent earlier. The NHL didn't indicate why there was a delay.

Torres got two games for a hit that probably would have just been a fine if it hadn't been for more recent incidents. Sutton got 8 games after an earlier 5 game suspension. So I'd expect quite a lengthy sentence here, particularly depending on the extent of the injury to Gilbert.

Carcillo also has 5 suspensions in his NHL career. Not five questionable hits. Not five hearings. Five suspensions. An obvious repeat offender, though most of those fouls were not for hits of this kind.

We shall have to wait to see what happens. I'll try to let you know when the hearing is and, of course, the end-decision on the number of suspensions.

This is not surprising. In fact, we should have suspected this. Carcillo himself said it would:

""There is no way I'll ever conform or change my game just because how tight the game is being called now."

He said that immediately after the first suspension this year.

"If I change my game I won't be playing in this league anymore," Carcillo continued. "The way the game is being played now, it's just a matter of time before something happens. It's in the past now but (I) have to move forward. It was a quick play, it happened and that's that."

Some would argue that a prior history should not factor in when assessing supplimental discipline. I wholeheartedly disagree.

I will offer up my arguements later, but essentially it does not seem fair to completely ignore a repeat offender's history. If they have done something bad enough to get fines or suspensions (not just low-end hockey fouls, like minor penalties), then those players need a different approach to get them to conform to the rules that are suppose to be obeyed by everyone. Maybe a high number of games will change his mind into playing by the same rules everyone else plays by.

What other options does the League have besides fines and suspensions? If the player doesn't change their actions, they present a danger to other players or the League's reputation in some cases. Players do not have to play in the NHL. They can go to Russia or Europe if they don't like the rules here.

There must be some behavior modification. Without it, you have players like Carcillo saying they won't change their dangerous actions.

There must be consistency in issusing additional discipline. Not the length of suspensions, but the number issued relative to like-plays on the ice. The length is where you can tack on for the repeat, dangerous players.

I'm not sure I explained that as well as I'd like, but I'll try and expand on that later.