Ryan Kesler avoids discipline after controversial hit

During Vancouver's loss to the Wild, Ryan Kesler landed a controversial hit when he undercut Cal Clutterbuck with a lowbridge hit towards Clutterbuck's knees. Kesler's hit is the kind of hit the Canucks themselves cried to the league about when Brad Marchand landed a similar, albeit more damaging hit on Sami Salo in the team's only meeting with the Canucks earlier this season. Kesler will face no further discipline from the League. So what's the difference between Kesler's hit and Marchand's hit that landed him a five-game suspension? Surprisingly, not much.

Both players showed clear frustration before and after the hit. Both players could have stood up tall and delivered a proper hit on their unexpecting opponent. The main difference is that Kesler came from directly in front of Clutterbuck while Marchand ducked Salo and flipped him over. In my opinion, Marchand's hit was less dangerous on the knee. Marchand's hit flipped Salo in a somewhat natural motion and was way less likely to damage Salo's knee than Kesler's hit direct on the knee. Clutterbuck's lucky the hit didn't buckle his knee or cause any ligament damage. Now, that being said, Marchand's hit was much more dangerous to Salo's upperbody. Flipping an opponent as such leaves a lot of room for concussions and upper-body injuries. And of course, the hit resulted in an injury to Salo, which seems to be a big determining factor for the League.

Furthermore, the NHL would be lying if they said reputation didn't factor into each decision. Marchand's developed a reputation as someone who pushes the limits of the rulebook and often steps over the line while Kesler typically plays the game in a more traditional sense.

I think both players should have gotten 2-3 games. Intent was the same in both cases, that being a cheap, unnecessary hit and I think infractions shouldn't be judged solely on if it causes an injury. The NHL Wheel of Justice is still a very real and random thing. It can never be a perfect system but it also shouldn't be this broken. If the League really cares about player safety they have to stop cherry-picking who to suspend and suspend all players regardless of star power.

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