After a player review (done very quickly in the event of a suspension since Ottawa played on Sunday), the Department of Player Safety decided not to suspend for the hit.
This was the 45 hearing this season. Of those, there have been 37 suspensions and an additional 4 fines with four players (including Turris) not recieving any type of punishment following the hearing.
Shanahan had this to say:
"We know and understand the perspective of the player is to get himself out of any supplemental discipline. No player lies down and says give me something. But, on the closer calls like this one, it's important for us to hear from the players' perspective on the play and it has an influence on our decision."
Shanahan said the contact to Corvo's head was made after the Bruins' defenseman opened his left shoulder following his pass. However, Shanahan said the Department of Player Safety did not deem it to be intentional or reckless. He said that Turris' feet were on the ice as he made the hit, but they come off as he's following through on the hit, "almost like he's falling into the boards himself."
"Like some of the suspensions we have had, it wasn't a case of him launching up high into the head," Shanahan added. "All players to a certain degree come off their feet when they drive through a check. That wasn't prior to the hit and he wasn't launching up."
What is facinating to me is how many people are comparing the hit to Ovechkin's which got him a three game suspension.
Link to Video
There are so many differences. Where to begin.
Ovechkin had an upward movement; Turris did not.
Ovechkin skated perpendicular to deliever the hit; Turris was more parallel.
Ovechkin left his feet prior to contact; Turris did not leave his feet until after skate-to-skate contact.
Ovechkin did not slow down; Turris did slightly.
Okay, so I hope it is clear that the Ovechkin hit and the Turris hit are different.
Boston fans are up in arms comparing this hit to the three game suspension for their very own Bruin defenseman Andrew Ference just a month ago. And for much better reasons.
Link to video
Okay, so there are some similiarites. The skate-to-skate contact first is the most obvious, but there is also the ascertion that neither Ference nor Turris intended to harm their victim, which the NHL believed in both cases. So then why does Turris get off while Ference sits for a trio of games?
Well, here's a few differences.
There was no sudden movement for Ference's victim; but there was with Turris.
The Ference hit was perpendicular to the boards all the way; Turris skated more even with the boards until the hit.
Ference's victim left the game; Turris' victim played on.
The impact Ference delivered was a push from behind (clearly defined in the rules as illegal); Turris intended to deliever more of a full body hit.
That last point is probably the most telling and the biggest difference some Boston fans are currently misquoting. Ference never intended to injure his opponent. That's what he told the NHL. And they believed him. Turris never intended to hit the head, but deliver a full body check. And the NHL believed him.
See the difference? Ference never intended the outcome of his actions. Turris didn't intend to do his actions, but couldn't help it because of circumstance despite his efforts. Ference could not have agrued he didn't mean to push his oppenent. That would have been a lie the NHL wouldn't have bought. There is clear evidence he intended to, and did, push his oppenent on the numbers.
Hopefully that clears up some of the differences between the two hits compared to this recent one.
But that doesn't answer this question: Should Turris have been suspended?
Just because his actions aren't cookie-cutter to some previous ones doesn't automatically get him out of punishment.
If you rewatch the video (with the sound down to ignore the spirited NESN Jack Edwards), I would argue that the NHL made the right decision. There was no injury on the play. There was contact prior to the skates leaving the ice.
Look at these shots from the video:
Here you can see Corvo with the puck on his stick and Turris in line to make a clean, full body hit. You can read the number on Corvo's sleeve meaning he is turned in such a way that a hit at that moment will be a shoulder hit.
This is immediately after the puck was passed and the moment of the first part of the hit. You can see it as a black blur along the dasher under the "I" and first "Z" in PIZZA. You can see the crest on Corvo's chest pretty well meaning he has opened himself up more (because of the pass). Both of Turris' skates are on the ice. Turris is also hitting with his entire side of his body.
After the hit, the skates are off the ice. In every video about a suspension, Shanahan acknowledges that after certain hits, players skates may come off the ice.
I would encourage you to watch the video again. It is hard to fully digest looking at replays or frame-by-frames. All that being said, the on-ice call for boarding was the right one. Clearly boarding due to the violent collision with the boards. Intent is not needed for a boarding call. The purpose of supplementary discipline appears to be more on intent, or most of the time these days, recklessness.
Let's go back to the Ference suspension. Again, the problem wasn't that Ference intended to injure his opponent, but that it is reckless to push someone from behind while coming up on the boards at such speed at a distance that they cannot recover from being off-balance before violently crashing into them, probably head first. It was reckless of Ovechkin to leave his feet to rise up and deliver a hit against the boards. In the eyes of the NHL (and me, frankly) it was not reckless for Turris to deliver what would have been a clean check had Corvo not suddenly change his body and head position. If Corvo had kept the puck, it very easily might not have been a boarding call as Corvo would have obsorbed the hit and it wouldn't have been as violent.
Even if one completely disagrees with me and the NHL, I hope that we can all agree that Shanahan addressing this issue publicly is a good thing, though something I wish we would see more of. He almost had to since this did get to a hearing, but more of this would only benefit us the fans, and more importantly the players as they adjust to new rules and ways to play the game.
