Game 25 review – From bad to worse?

Photo from The Canadian Press/John Ulan

Things here in Oil Country haven’t been all sunshine and roses lately. The team is losing more often than they’re winning and most night the team seems to lack the intensity or focus to win games. Without a doubt there have been many injuries and a bout with the flu that have contributed to the Oilers lackluster play so far but fans in Edmonton are getting restless nonetheless.

It’s been bad so far and it easily could be getting worse very very soon.

In the second period of last nights 3-1 loss to the Kings, Hemsky was hit from behind by Handzus; a play that earned Handzus a minor penalty. That is about all I really want to say about what was an otherwise very boring game that lacked any intensity from either team.

Following the hit Hemsky did return to the ice for the ensuing faceoff but stayed on the ice for only 24 seconds before calling it a night. Earlier this month Hemsky missed a couple of games with a shoulder injury. Maybe the Handzus hit aggravated that injury or maybe it’s a new injury altogether. Regardless of the injury though, if Hemsky misses any significant time this team will likely be in very deep trouble.

Hemsky is the second leading scorer on the team and is the most skilled offensive forward. The powerplay is built around him; which was very obvious after he left last nights game. Without him the powerplay was so ineffective that there aren’t sufficient adjectives available to describe its ineffectiveness.

The Oilers will be back on the ice with or without Hemsky on Friday night against the Sharks. After that they’ll depart for a two week long, six game road trip. At the end of the road trip this team will have 50 games left in the season, they could very easily be all but dead at that point if Hemsky is seriously injured.

The hit from Handzus was yet another example of NHL players that simply don’t seem to understand the consequences of these types of hits. Handzus had to have seen the numbers on the back of Hemsky’s jersey and yet he still finished his check.

It wasn’t a bone crushing hit but it was a hit in an area of the ice where the player is vulnerable. It was exactly the same thing as the MacArthur hit on Reddox two weeks ago – it could have been avoided, it was a dangerous hit, and it was thrown anyway. Are NHL players really so oblivious to the dangers of this type of hit that we need to put stop badges on the jersey like they have in minor hockey?

I’ve heard players say on many occasions that the league needs to allow the players to police themselves. When you read between the lines of that statement what is really being said is get rid of the instigator and make players responsible for their own actions.

That might work but why should the league allow players to police themselves when they can’t grasp the simplest concepts like not hitting vulnerable players? As far as I’m concerned the only thing that will prevent hit like this, and others like the Briere hit on Hannan, is lengthy suspensions and hits to the wallet.

The NHL should see the incentive in that as well. Every time a player misses a game and has to be replaced with a call up from the minors it affects the product that they are putting on the ice. Since the NHL sells entertainment you’d think that they’d want to maximize their entertainment value by doing anything they can to keep their stars on the ice.

But justice from the NHL is never as severe as it should be and so the pseudo justice the NHL hands out doesn’t act as a deterrent. MacArthur didn’t get a suspension and Briere only got two games. Handzus got the message that the NHL was sending – be reckless and be careless out there because there is no consequences for your actions.