No Suspension for Cooke is Proper Decision by the NHL

Erik Karlsson grimaces in pain after his Achilles’ tendon was cut by the skate of Matt Cooke. (Gene J. Puskar)

When Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Matt Cooke looked to check Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson into the boards during Wednesday night's game, Cooke's skate was slightly elevated. It made contact with the back of Karlsoon's leg, who immeadiately grimaced and went down on the ice.

The diagnosis was not pretty. Cooke's skate had caused a 70 percent laceration of Karlsson's Achilles’ tendon. This means Karlsson will likely be out three to four months, which is the remainder of the season. This is a just a big loss for the Senators, but for all of hockey. The reigning Norris trophy winner is one of the best and most enjoyable defenseman in the league.

The Senators organization, especially owner Eugene Melnyk, has been vocal about their desire to see Cooke suspended for what they believe to a malicious play. However, there is no evidence that Cooke had any malevolent intent during the play. The only reason that a rumor of suspension is being brought up is because of Cooke's history in the league.

Cooke has been suspended by the league five times for illegal hits. In 2009, he had hits to the head of  Artem Anisimov and Scott Walker. His blindside hit of Marc Savard in 2010 led to league changes to head shot rules. In February 2011, he had controversial hits on Alexander Ovechkin and Fedor Tyutin. The worst incident though came a month later when Cooke was suspended for a hit to the Ryan McDonagh.

The Penguins organizations even supported the suspension following the hit on McDonagh. General Manager Ray Shero told Cooke that he had to change his style of play, or he would be looking for a new place of employment. Cooke has kept himself clean since the suspension, until the incident with Karlsson came along.

Everyone who can look at the incident from an unbiased standpoint realizes that this was merely an unfortunate accident. Cooke did not even know what happened during the play until after the game.

"It wasn’t until after the game when I found out what actually happened, and instantly you feel awful,” Cooke said. “It was totally not my intent on the play. It was just a freak kind of accident, and I hope [Karlsson] understands that."

Even some of Cooke's harshest critics in the past have gone to his defense for this case. Don Cherry, the Hockey Night in Canada commentator who has ridiculed Cooke in the past, said Cooke did not intentionally try to injure Karlsson.

"No, he didn’t do that [on purpose]. It was a freak accident. No human being would do that," said Cherry. "I think he was just trying to take him in there [to the boards] … it was an accident."

Brendan Shanahan and the NHL's player safety department agreed with Cherry's assessment. They determined that Cooke should not be disciplined for his skate cutting Karlsson. I agree with their conclusion as well. The accident is an unfortunate one, but there was no malicious intent involved at all.

The Penguins organization feels badly about what happened and understands the pain that the Senators are now going through. They lost their leader, Sidney Crosby, for an extended time following a hard hit by David Steckel.

"I feel horrible for Erik Karlsson, I feel bad for Ottawa," said Shero. "It’s a bad feeling. But I can't rationalize where that was a dirty play or anything with intent. Our fan base knows how it feels to lose a star player. It's emotional. I know how it feels like. It's just very unfortunate. I would not be defending Matt Cooke if I thought it was a dirty hockey play."

I have a few last thoughts as a result of all of this. First, our prayers and thoughts go out to Karlsson for a speedy recovery. Second, I respect the NHL for making the proper decision in not suspending Cooke. Finally, I hope that players around the world realize the importance of wrapping tape around the area at the top of their skates to prevent this type of incident from every happening again.