Huge hits offer painful, yet valuable lessons for NHL givers and receivers  taken in Columbus, Ohio (In-depth)

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Brandon Tanev argues from the bench after after taking a boarding penalty and game misconduct for his hit on Jarred Tinordi.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An injured Jarred Tinordi and an angry Brandon Tanev were barely back in the respective locker rooms Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena when the hockey world erupted in debate over the latest high-speed, high-impact Rorschach Test.

Tanev had been assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for boarding the Bruins’ defenseman midway through the second period of Boston’s 2-1 win. Not surprisingly, many people saw the same check different ways. 

“That’s a clean hit all day long for me,” Penguins’ president of Hockey Operations Brian Burke told Sportsnet’s Hockey Central. “It’s not even a minor penalty.”

Former Penguins’ and Capitals’ defenseman Brooks Orpik offered a contrasting view.

“When I first saw it, I didn’t think it was a penalty, but the more I watched it, I thought it was,” the two-time Stanley Cup winner told DK Pittsburgh Sports. “(Tanev) came all the way across the ice with so much momentum . . . It was probably a major, but I don’t think Tanev should have been thrown out.”

Google the hit and you will find plenty of takes from social media accounts and sports talking heads, including ones that posit the collision was worth no more than a two-minute penalty and, oh yeah, it should have been called charging.   

There’s still another opinion about the Tanev hit — and ones similar to it — that is being discussed in more hushed tones given the age of player safety: Puck carriers need to be more aware of their surroundings and who’s on the ice in opposition sweaters.

Obviously, there are times when big hits are unavoidable and skaters must put themselves in vulnerable positions to make plays. But some believe there are teachable moments on both sides of injurious body checks, especially in an era when hitting is becoming increasingly rare in the NHL. 

The issue has come into sharp focus for the Penguins in recent weeks. Five days prior to the Tanev collision, Zach Aston-Reese delivered an unpenalized blow to Dylan Cozens along the wall that’s kept the Sabres’ defenseman out of the lineup with an upper-body injury. 

“I’m all for protecting guys.” Orpik said. “There’s a lot of new information and data on head injuries. I definitely think we are trying to do the right thing, but we have to go back and re-educate guys on how to receive hits and how not to put themselves in bad situations. 

“Some people say that’s an archaic way of thinking. I don’t think it is. I think it’s your responsibility as a hockey player.”

Orpik and everyone else interviewed for this story expressed sympathy for Tinordi, a former Penguins’ minor leaguer with a history of concussions. They are not blaming the victim, and each shared stories of being on the wrong end of similar hits. They also agreed with Sidney Crosby, who after Tuesday’s game said the league needs to clarify “what’s a good hit and what’s not.”

There are hard lessons to be learned, ones which potentially can extend careers, several players said. Because as one former NHL team executive bluntly observed: “I’m not sure Mike Sullivan, if you ask him today, wants Tanev to change a thing. You may not want Evgeni Malkin making that hit, but you do want Brandon Tanev making that hit all day long.”

‘TREE IS GONNA FALL’

As Tinordi approached the red line and prepared to dump the puck into the Penguins’ zone, the 29-year-old defenseman drifted into one of most dangerous areas on the ice. Any time puck carriers are about five feet from the wall, they become vulnerable to checks that often don’t allow them time to brace for impact with the boards. 

The speedy Tanev, whose been among the league’s leading hitters since entering the NHL in 2016, delivered a crunching shot that was neither late nor high. It was a shoulder-to-shoulder hit that sent Tinordi sailing awkwardly into the wall in the neutral zone. The four officials conferred and deemed it a boarding major and, after watching the replay and consulting with Toronto, they tacked on a game misconduct. 

Tanev protested the decision even as Bruins’ teammates were helping Tinordi off the ice. League disciplinarians, satisfied with the verdict, did not dispense any supplemental fine or suspension. 

“I think it’s a clean hit,” said Scott Hartnell, who’s best remembered in Pittsburgh for his antagonistic days with the Flyers. “It’s a guy dumping the puck in and he’s a little off balance, but (Tanev) hits him immediately after releasing the puck. Tanev plays with a lot of speed and hits with a lot of velocity. It’s terrible that Tinordi got hurt on the play, but I thought it was clean hit.”

It had been an eventful evening for Tinordi, whose earlier check on Malkin resulted in a lower-body injury that has the Penguins' center out of the lineup indefinitely. The collision involving Tanev ended his night. 

After the game, Sullivan raised a salient point: It was the distance from the wall that likely contributed to the defenseman's injury. It’s an observation echoed by Hartnell, who thinks Tinordi, under similar circumstances, will try to skate closer to the boards before dumping the puck in the future. His other option — skating away from the boards — was eliminated by Tanev’s flight path.

“You learn that if you’re going to get hit, you get as close as you can to the boards because they are your cushion, they are your friend,” Hartnell said.

Rangers' defenseman Brendan Smith was ejected for this frightening check to Mark Borowiecki in 2017.

In recent years, the awareness of head and spinal-cord injuries, coupled with harsher penalties and suspensions, have reduced the number of such ugly collisions, especially on hits from behind.

“We’ve done a good job of getting a lot of those out of the game,” said former tough guy and Blue Jackets’ analyst Jody Shelley.

The rulebook grants referees plenty of latitude on boarding calls, and its vague language can be interpreted different ways. Shelley believes officials were correct in assessing a major penalty to Tanev, but he also understands the speed of the game and Tanev’s role in it. 

“I don’t think Tanev can process it that quickly, but maybe next time he does,” Shelley said. “Tanev is a player who never gives up on a hit, and he really can’t. He’s not the biggest guy. He’s an energy guy and he’s got a 6-foot-6 guy (in Tinordi) who’s dumping the puck in and putting himself in a bad position. . . . I don’t think (Tanev) can really assess where that tree is gonna fall.”

Shelley has a memorable story that buttresses Crosby’s remarks about what does or does not constitute a clean hit. He was playing for the Rangers in 2010 and found himself on the wrong end of a thunderous collision with Flyers’ defenseman Chris Pronger. Shelley signed with Flyers in the offseason and a few months later, while sitting in the dressing room alongside Pronger, watched a league official show clips of borderline hits. 

Sure enough, there was Pronger’s wallop of Shelley on the big screen with a league official citing it as an example of an acceptable check. Flash forward one year. Shelley is sitting in the locker room again, watching another league presentation, and this time the official shows the exact same clip and says it could merit a suspension.  

“The lack of consistency is what creates the confusion among players,” Orpik said.

There’s another issue to consider. Rule changes and litigation involving head shots have altered the way the game is played in the minds of many.

“There is zero hitting,” Orpik said. “It takes emotion out of it. It saps energy and it’s tough to watch, I think. I’m all for great speed and skill, but it’s still supposed to be a contact sport.”

Several former players wonder if puck carriers have been lulled into a false sense of security and that young skaters are lacking awareness when the occasional big hit like the one from Tanev is delivered.

“There’s no responsibility on the player receiving the hit,” Orpik said. “A lot of people think that’s the way to go, and that’s fine if they want to think that. But there are still moments when you are going to have to protect yourself on the ice.” 

FATHERLY ADVICE 

Hartnell played 1,249 games for three NHL franchises. There was a time when the former shaggy-haired winger feared his career would be considerably shorter. 

“I got turn-buckled by Reed Low in St. Louis and was carried off on a stretcher and taken to the hospital,” Hartnell recalled. “By the time I was 19, I had two massive concussions and, if I didn’t change the way I played, I was going to be out of the league because of head injuries.”

His father pulled him aside and offered him advice that he believes prolonged his career: Stop putting yourself in vulnerable positions if at all avoidable.

Hartnell played in an era when body snatchers such as Scott Stevens, Dion Pfaneuf, Darius Kasparaitis and Pronger roamed the ice in search of pelts. It was a time when late hits were measured by sun dials, not split seconds. 

He shares his stories not to scare young players, Hartnell said, but to teach them of the risks associated with a collision sport. He points to stars such as Connor McDavid and Patrick Kane, and wants kids to notice how seldom they leave themselves open to blowup hits.

Several former players cited Crosby, whose career was nearly derailed by head injuries, and how they believe he’s adjusted his game accordingly. 

“Those guys know the importance of spatial awareness,” Hartnell said. “You see McDavid stick-handling through two guys and yet he still knows where the next two guys are coming from to check him. In this game, you’ve got to pick your spots when to put your body on the line.”

Even older pros need the occasional reminder.

Several years ago, Orpik was crushed on a hit from behind while retrieving a puck in his own zone. While Capitals’ teammates were furious with opposing forward Cedric Paquette, the hard-hitting Orpik channeled his anger inward. 

“(Paquette) could have minimized the hit, but I was more mad at myself because I went back for the puck in a straight line instead of going on an angle, where even if he wanted to hit me, the result wouldn’t be so bad,” the defenseman said.

Orpik remains good friends with the one of the NHL’s most notorious player.

“If that was Tom Wilson throwing the Tanev hit, Twitter might have burned down,” Orpik said. “That’s what I don’t like now. People are looking at the player to decide if they like the hit or not. They are looking at who’s delivering it more than the actual circumstances surrounding it.” 

The difference, of course, is Tanev doesn’t have a parking space reserved for him in front of the Department of NHL Player Safety. He’s never been suspended. Wilson is currently serving a seven-game ban for his hit on Bruins’ defenseman Brandon Carlo. His five career suspensions include a three-gamer for a check on Aston-Reese that resulted in a concussion and broken jaw during the 2018 playoffs.

It leads Orpik to another point. Skaters must be aware of who’s on the ice during their shifts. 

Even in today’s league, where the fear of suspensions prey on the minds of checkers, intimidation remains part of the game. Said one former forward: “I know for a fact players are scared to play against certain players — scared shitless just because those guys are in the lineup.”    

It might not play well in Philadelphia, where he serves as an analyst, but Hartnell appreciates Tanev’s tenacity. 

“He’s always first guy in on the forecheck and the first guy back on the back check,” Hartnell said. “He’s got so much speed. He’s annoying, he frustrates you. If I was playing for the Flyers, I would want to punch him in the head after a whistle because he’s looking at you with his long hair. I would go to the box and they would go on the power play and probably score.”   

TEACHABLE MOMENTS 

Few coaches in Columbus have done more to promote youth hockey than Ed Gingher. When the Penguins first traveled here in 2000, the only NHL players linked to the city wore Blue Jackets’ uniforms. 

Two decades later, Gingher has helped develop countless college  players and nine NHL draft picks and free agents through the Ohio AAA Blue Jackets. Gingher, the program’s president, knows the beauty and pain of the sport. 

His 16-year-old son, Ryan, recently separated a shoulder in a game while being cross-checked and falling into the boards. Dad deemed the hit unnecessary, but also thought his son “left himself vulnerable.”

The Ohio AAA Blue Jackets work with kids ranging in ages from 10 to 18. Among Gingher’s many coaching tips are reminders to puck carriers on how to protect themselves: Keep your head up, practice spatial awareness, know where you are on the ice and try to avoid the dreaded five-foot area near the wall when you’re about to get hit.

Gingher counts himself among Tanev’s fans, yet doesn’t want to give him “a free pass to smoke a player.” The coach thought the Penguins’ winger deserved his penalty.

“There’s an onus on both sides of it,” Gingher said. “I guarantee Tinordi approaches that moment different next time.”

Penguins’ defenseman Marcus Pettersson can relate. He missed nearly a month this season recovering from an upper-body injury sustained Jan. 19. The Swede was felled by a blindside, neutral-zone hit from Capitals’ forward T.J. Oshie.

“I know I have to keep my eyes up a little bit more,” Pettersson said upon his return to the lineup. “I might have been expecting him to come from there. Those things happen. . . . I just know that you can't be staring at the puck when you make a pass. I've learned from that.”

Tanev is enjoying a terrific season with seven goals and eight assists. He’s been promoted to the second line due to injuries, but continues to play with ferocity and dash.

The winger contributed an assist and game-high five hits in the Penguins’ 3-2 loss at New Jersey on Thursday. Meanwhile, Tinordi remains out of the lineup.

The former NHL team executive labeled it a “mean-spirited, but clean check.” In recent years, he’s watched the threat of suspension and major penalties make players pass up big hits. 

While it’s having the desired effect from the league’s perspective and many of its players, teams will continue to search for skaters who can swing the momentum of a game or playoff series with their physical play.   

“Tanev cannot afford to play that way — where he’s not going to hit anybody,” the former team executive said. “Seventy-five percent of the players can’t afford to play that way or they will be out of the league. I think it’s too much to ask them to back off a check five feet from the wall. By then, they’re not going to hit anybody because it’s too late.”

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