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This article was published 9/1/2017 (1346 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

The consensus suggests Jake McCabe’s hit on Patrik Laine in Buffalo Saturday afternoon was clean and legal. I’ve been left wondering, however, whether it was safe. Was it necessary?

Stepping away from the ice for a moment, the devastating bodycheck on the Winnipeg Jets’ sensational rookie reminded me of an incident on the football field a few months ago.

Jeffrey T. Barnes / The Associated Press files Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine is out indefinitely with a concussion.

During the CFL’s West semifinal in Vancouver, Winnipeg Blue Bombers safety Taylor Loffler levelled B.C. Lions receiver Manny Arceneaux, who was trying to catch a pass in the end zone. Arceneaux had to be helped from the field and Loffler was assessed a penalty for unnecessary roughness.

I recall a text exchange I had with Free Press columnist Paul Wiecek moments after the hit in which I wondered how Loffler could have pulled up on that play, and what a wicked hit it was. His response was something about it being nauseating to watch.

I’m sure more than a few Jets fans had a sick feeling in their stomachs as they witnessed their obviously concussed franchise player as he lay motionless on the ice after the horrifying collision.

So, in football — perhaps the most violent of all professional sports — it is illegal to lay out a defenceless receiver. Hockey? Nope, it’s just part of the game. The kid needs to learn to keep his head up skating through the neutral zone; that seems to be the prevailing mentality.

Yeah, like that Darryl Stingley guy. Everyone knew Jack (The Assassin) Tatum was a fearless and fearsome tackler over the middle of the field, so opponents had to keep their heads up.

For those of you unfamiliar with Stingley and Tatum; the former was a New England Patriots receiver who stretched out to catch a ball in a game in 1978 and was hit by the Oakland Raiders defensive back. Stingley’s spinal cord was compressed in the collision, breaking his fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae — he spent the rest of his life as a quadriplegic.

At the time, the Tatum hit was not an infraction according to NFL rules, so nobody threw a flag. Partly as a result of Stingley’s injury, the NFL changed its rules to protect vulnerable players. The CFL has similar rules in place. Stingley told the Chicago Tribune later that he approved of the new rules saying, "It has opened the game up to allow receivers to get downfield. And it has made the game more exciting."

Following McCabe’s hit on Laine, TSN colour commentator Shane Hnidy said those types of hits are rare in today’s NHL.

And one could make a compelling argument that it’s a good thing. Unless, that is, you long for and appreciate the days when Scott Stevens could crush guys with reckless abandon, including Paul Kariya during the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs, just one of many concussions that affected the speedy superstar throughout his career.

I had a couple of conversations on Monday proposing the McCabe-Laine type of hit was no longer necessary to the game. The responses? The number of hits is already way down in the game; banning that type of play would make it even less exciting. Or, open up the game and allow forwards to receive a pass more freely, which might make the game more exciting.

Listen, I’m not sure the folks who invented this great game could have imagined the size and speed today’s players possess. Open-ice hits might have been fine and dandy when players were all less than 200 pounds, nowhere near as muscle-bound and skating at what might appear to be slow motion compared to the blur on NHL ice now.

JEFFREY BARNES / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Patrik Laine is helped by a trainer after being hit during the third period in Buffalo.

Laine is an 18-year-old kid learning to play in a man’s game on a smaller ice surface than he’s used to overseas. McCabe is 23, more experienced and — maybe — takes advantage of those factors to nearly kill him. Necessary or unnecessary?

Asked after the game for his thoughts on the hit, McCabe — who had stitches above and below his eye as a result of the crash — agreed it might have been been his best hit of the season.

"I think so," he said. "I think that was the biggest."

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Since then, Jets players and head coach Paul Maurice have all publicly said the check was both legal and clean. Not much on whether it was necessary or safe, though. The Jets would want to be cautious in that area, not wanting to provoke accusations of hypocrisy; after all, Dustin Byfuglien’s thunderous hit on Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone last season would fall into this same category.

Also questioned over the weekend was the on-ice response to the hit from Laine’s teammates; the mob seems to have wanted blood.

Again, only in hockey is attacking the villain the expected reaction to a clean and legal check that injures a teammate. That would be like a football team’s entire offensive line jumping on the defensive lineman who, within the rules, sacks their QB and causes an injury.

By the way, the Lions didn’t all declare war on Loffler to exact revenge. Instead, they rallied in the game and won it for Manny.

steve.lyons@freepress.mb.ca