Will Near Passing of Wife Help Matt Cooke Change His Style of Play?

The average fan of the National Hockey League knows Matt Cooke and the type of player he is. Cooke has been disciplined by the NHL a multitude of times for a plethora of incidents, including a season-ending suspension for elbowing New York Ranger Ryan McDonagh in March of last season. While there’s no way to call it a sure thing, I personally believe that had Cooke not been suspended for the Penguins’ entire first round series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, he would have made an absolute difference in the series, perhaps to the point where the Penguins would have defeated the Bolts and moved on to the second round. I’m sure Cooke, one of the team’s best penalty killers and a usefully gritty and energetic third line winger, realizes the difference he could have made in such a tightly contested series of games. What Cooke also realizes is that he almost lost his wife earlier this year. One day after the Winter Classic, Michelle Cooke was taken to a hospital i...