3 Reasons Why Brian Burke Is Right

People, the fact of the matter is that Brian Burke is right. As much as we are having so much fun watching a game that is so much more professional than it was when the legends were playing, hockey has been taken over by the rats.

It hurts to see that skilled players like Rene Bourque and others not so skilled, like Andy Sutton, can run around elbowing players and not have to face physical punishment for that hit. It hurts to see that players that are great characters like George Parros and Colton Orr are increasingly losing their space in their rosters. 

It is hard to pin one separate clause for this phenomenon. We can see three reasons that are greatly contributing to this.

The European Invasion

Before the last twenty years, the NHL had almost no European players. With Borje Salming in Toronto, Stan Mikita in Chicago, and Peter Stastny in Quebec, the NHL was almost "European-free." Now, every team has a skilled European winger playing in their first line and a european defenseman on their top four. We haven't seen almost any European enforcers, the most recent being Raitis Ivanans in Calgary. 

Skilled Europeans have changed the NHL for the better. Players like Pavel Datsyuk and Alexander Ovechkin (despite his recent slump) are counted on for a spark on a daily basis. They add the "wow factor" that the NHL was so desperate to find.

Marian Gaborik, a Slovak, is the one of the top scorers in the NHL this season. I could stay here for days on end talking about all the European stars that have raised the level of the game played in America but, the fact of the matter is that a purely physical player has no space on the roster and his is role is slowly dwindling in the NHL.

The Rise in Concussions 

A concussion is when your head takes an large amount of impact that forces your brain to hit against the skull. This is the most frightening injury in the hockey world because players that suffered with concussions in their careers are more likely to have degenerative diseases like those that were found in Bob Probert and in Derek Boogaard.

In the NHL, concussions are not only affecting enforcers but the numbers of concussions among skilled players are very alarming. Because of the care that has been given to concussions, a lot more players are being diagnosed with and are missing less than ten games, like Shea Weber and Milan Michalek.

Despite all this, there are a lot of players who are out for the season and even for years in some cases. Marc Savard and Peter Mueller still haven't returned and the longer they stay out, the less promising it is. Players like Sidney Crosby and Pierre-Marc Bouchard that stayed for a long period of time and have returned, sustained concussions again and are out indefinitely.  

Personally, what is most alarming for me is that players like Daniel Carcillo and Milan Lucic are essentially running around free and taking out the players that make this game so exciting.

Winning Through Hard Hitting

I'm not saying that the Bruins should stop playing their physical, and sometimes, dirty game. What I'm saying is that because of their success, the whole league is reshaping itself accordingly, therefore, the game is turning into a hazard for the players themselves.

The Bruins, after the Matt Cooke hit on Marc Savard, have been getting away with pretty much anything they want to. The league is being complacent to their playing style and they are taking advantage to it. Discipline was not used against Zdeno Chara in his hit against Max Pacioretty, Milan Lucic also got a freebie against Ryan Miller and Johnny Boychuk also was let go for his hit in the Stanley Cup Finals on Mason Raymond. 

It's OK to hit hard but, successively injuring players on borderline criminal hits is enough.

Enough is enough. The NHL, for the sake of it's own players, should take more effective methods to remove from some of the danger of the game because, right now, as it is the spectacle as whole is in danger.