Top 5 Hockey (Dirty?) Hits of the 2009 NHL Season: Video

by Jon Azpiri | October 26, 2009 at 02:35 pm

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The NHL season is barely a month old, but there has already been plenty of bone-crushing hits. This past weekend, a couple of incidents have already drawn criticism and raised questions about how the league polices itself.

Here are the Top 5 NHL hits of the young 2009 NHL season. You can judge for yourself whether the hits were dirty and deserved to be fined.

Mike Richards Hit on David Booth Video Arguably the most talked about hit of the season. Richards lays a devastating open-ice hit on David Booth, who is knocked out cold after Richards' shoulder collided into Booth's head. Some saw the hit as dirty head shot while others pointed out that Richards didn't leave his feet and that Booth had his head down, a rookie mistake.

Tuomo Ruutu Hit on Darcy Tucker Video This one is a little more cut and dried. Ruutu gave a clinic how to illegally hit a player into the boards. Tucker was by the boards and didn't have the puck when Ruutu smashed into him, causing Tucker to fly face first into the glass. Ruutu was given a three-game suspension for the hit.

Roert Scuderi hit on Jason Chimera Video As Jason Chimera was skating into the opposing team's end, LA Kings defenceman Scuderi hits him low, causing him to flip over. The Scuderi-Chimera hit looked nasty, but Scuderi wasn't penalized.

Willie Mitchell on Jonathan Toews Video Vancouver Canucks defenceman Willie Mitchell was getting out of the penalty box only to find that he had Blackhawks forward Jonathan Toews lined up for a big hit. Once he got Toews in his crosshairs, he lays him out with a devastating open-ice hit. Toews has since missed some action with concussion-like symptoms. Mitchell wasn't penalized as it appeared to have been a clean hit.

Steve Ott on Carlo Colaiacovo Video Steve Ott has earned a reputation as one of the NHL's biggest pests. His hit on Colaiacovo won't help matters. Like the Scuderi hit, Ott hit Colaiacovo low as he was trying to get the puck out of his own end. TV announcers referred to it as a good old-fashioned hip check, but there does appear to be some knee-on-knee contact.

So what do all these hits mean? Is it just a statistical aberration or is there something going on with the NHL?

At some point, the end result of these dangerous plays has to be factored into how or whether the NHL will curtail the mayhem on the ice. Yes, it's a physical game, but the NHL Players' Association was on to something last season when it asked for a special penalty to be assessed when a player is hit in the head while in a vulnerable position, regardless of whether the hit is technically legal.

Others add that instead of treating this problem as an epidemic, the NHL needs to focus on obviously dirty hits and not just all hits that appear to injure players.

Indeed. The problem is that when they happen, they're all too quickly grouped in with the real plague on the NHL, which are completely irresponsible plays like Ruutu's hit on Tucker -- not hockey plays like Richards on Booth.