NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: 15 Most Cringe-Worthy Hits of Hockey's Postseason

The 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs have been some of the most brutally violent playoffs in recent memory.

As a fan of the game, one should expect the level of intensity to pick up once the playoffs begin because of how high the stakes are, but things have gotten pretty crazy this year.

Several suspensions and fines have been handed out for these violent plays and others have been just been a part of the game.

Whether legal or illegal, this playoff year has given us several cringe-worthy hits.

Shea Weber

I don't know if this one is so much cringe-worthy as it is just plain shockingly stupid. 

Shea Weber is known for tough play, so seeing him be physical shouldn't be a surprise to anybody; but he's also known for being a team leader and keeping his composure, something that he completely lost on this play.

After getting hit from behind by Henrik Zetterberg, Shea Weber decided to "lay the smack down" and did his best WWE impersonation.

Zetterberg appeared to be dazed on the play, but no supplemental discipline was given for this play.

Dustin Brown

This is a hard one to watch because of the aftermath, not because the hit itself was terribly devastating.

Dustin Brown leveled this big hit on Henrik Sedin in the first round of the playoffs and caught every last piece of him.

Sedin's head made a big whiplash as soon as he hit the ice and left him very disoriented. You can see that even though he was learning right up against the boards he seemed to be feeling for the boards as if he didn't know where they were.

Henrik essentially had to be pulled up by his teammates on the bench and dragged onto the bench. 

Clean hit but a tough one to watch.

James Neal

Luckily for the Flyers players involved, neither of the hits that James Neal attempted to deliver in the following sequences seemed to fully land.

I don't believe his intention was to hit Couturier because Neal really could have made that hit much worse if he wanted to. He was up in the air way too early to have really launched himself into the hit.

His blatant attempt to run Giroux, however, is disturbing by itself. Neal had Giroux lined up for a solid body check that could have been devastating and clean, but attempted to rip his head off instead.

The intention is what is more cringe-making here. I have no problem with physical play, but when guys are out trying to hurt other players because their team is getting creamed, that's a bad thing.

Alex Ovechkin

Alex Ovechkin has made a few questionable hits in his past, and this one on Girardi certainly falls into the category of questionable.

Any time a player seemingly leaps into a hit like Ovechkin does here, you can almost guarantee contact with the head.

This wasn't as bad as Raffi Torres, but it's one that still will make a person watching wince a bit and hope the player is OK.

Matt Carkner

Matt Carkner was put in Game 2 of the Senators' first-round series with the New York Rangers for one purpose and one purpose alone. He was supposed to go after Brian Boyle and try to hurt him.

He made an effort to do that with one of the most spineless plays of the season by not only punching a guy, bare-fisted, who had no intention of dropping the gloves with him, but then taking four or five more shots at the guy before the rest of the players joined the scrum.

When your stat sheet reads: Time on Ice: 37 seconds, penalty minutes: 17, you're just a goon.

How Carkner, who is a repeat offender, got only one game for this goonery, I have no idea.

Byron Bitz

Byron Bitz's hit on Kyle Clifford falls nicely into the definition of cringe-worthy. 

These checking from behind/boarding plays always make me really uncomfortable because the players not only run the risk of being hurt for the game, if things go the wrong way, there are some much more permanent issues at stake.

Bitz checked Clifford from behind, in the head, sandwiching Clifford's head between his shoulder and the glass.

It's such a dangerous situation, and Bitz earned every minute of that two-game suspension he was given for this hit.

Claude Giroux

Claude Giroux was suspended for his hit on Dainius Zubrus in the Eastern Conference semifinal against the New Jersey Devils.

After a frustrating shift, Giroux caught Zubrus with a late hit that connected straight to Zubrus' head.

Right after the hit, and even watching the replays, I didn't expect any extra discipline from Brendan Shanahan, but the recklessness of the hit earned Giroux a suspension.

It's hard to see a guy get hit in the head like that, and it was fortunate for the Devils that Zubrus was able to return to the game.

Mike Smith

Mike Smith had one of the better seasons for NHL goalies this past year, and he also showed that he's one of the bigger babies in the league.

After a game of penalties and horrific discipline by the Phoenix Coyotes in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals, Smith took out some of his frustration by slashing Dustin Brown in the back of the leg.

He received a slashing penalty for this, and Brown was taken off for diving (though he could barely skate to the box after that). 

It may not be new to the game of hockey, as Darren Pang says in the clip, but this is something that would make anybody cringe when they saw.

Those goalie sticks are meant to withstand some incredibly hard shots, so you can imagine exactly what it would feel like to have all of that put into the back of your leg when you're not expecting it by a big guy like Smith.

In my opinion, Smith should have been fined for this as well. He's trying to hurt a guy when he does that.

Shane Doan

A lot of videos from that Los Angeles/Phoenix series speaks very clearly as to how physical and how intense this series was.

Shane Doan was a victim of circumstance in this particular hit because Lewis was facing him up until the absolute last second.

By definition, yes that's boarding and a boarding call where blood is drawn is an automatic five minute major, as Darren Pang explains.  It was also right that there was no extra discipline given because Doan had no possible way of avoiding what happened.

Doesn't make it any more comfortable to watch, however.

Dustin Brown

Some of the worst hits happen right after the whistle blows, and the Dustin Brown hit on Michal Rozsival was exactly that.

Cutting across the blue line, Rozsival forced himself to be offside and let up just as Dustin Brown caught him with a check that was literally toe to shoulder full contact.

There was contact in the leg area as well, which naturally got the Phoenix bench in a fury as they wanted a call for kneeing.

It's tough to say whether it was or not, but from the analysis of those calling the game and looking at the replay, it seems like the right call was made.

Rostislav Klesla

One of those hits where, when it happens, everybody watching immediately holds their breath and hopes that the player hit is okay.

Matt Halishuck went head first into the dangerous boards right by the player's benches after being shoved from behind.

The saddest thing about these types of hits is that it will take somebody being seriously injured to the point where they might not be able to walk anymore before the players fully comprehend how dangerous these hits are.

To a certain extent, these hits will always be part of the game, but this hit Klesla absolutely could have avoided and just didn't.

We're seeing a bit of a theme with these Coyotes clips constantly showing up.

Zac Rinaldo

Looking through a lot of these videos for this slideshow, I've realized something. Dainius Zubrus gets hit a lot.

Zac Rinaldo caught Zubrus with a low hip check to his knee. This is almost worse than a knee-on-knee hit because Rinaldo, who is a big guy, makes contact with a part of his body that is not going to budge at all.

Zubrus' knee is clearly going to lose this battle any and every single time it comes up.

Ouch.

Martin Hanzal

Yet another video from the Coyotes vs. Kings series, this one is probably the hardest to watch.

Martin Hanzal just drives Dustin Brown face first into the boards with a whole lot of speed. Dustin Brown was so lucky to be able to stand up after this, let alone not be injured at all, based off of how he went into the boards.

I remember watching this and thinking that they needed to get the stretcher out there right away right when it happened.

I have no emotional attachments to either of team, but I was terrified for Brown when that happened.

Raffi Torres

Raffi Torres has made a career out of dirty hits, and it's about time that somebody laid a huge suspension on him like the one he was given after this dirty hit on Marian Hossa.

Some guys just haven't learned, or even cared, to attempt to learn in Torres' case, how to play differently in this era of head safety. 

There was no need for Torres to make this hit. The puck was long gone, and he launched himself right into Hossa's head.

The hit is one thing, but then watching Hossa's head whip back when he hits the ice is another thing altogether.

I honestly hope Raffi Torres never sets a skate on NHL ice ever again.

Arron Asham

If you look up the definition of gutless plays, you will find Todd Bertuzzi with the first definition, and right after that, you'll find Arron Asham.

Asham and the Penguins were down badly in the game and in their series with the Flyers when Brayden Schenn delivered a powerful and clean hit to Paul Martin.

Asham took exception to it and cross-checked Schenn in the throat and gave him a truly cowardly sucker punch to the back of the head for good measure.

There's absolutely no excuse for what Asham did and the four-game suspension he received was well earned.

Never like to see guys go down like that and stay down as long as Schenn did.