I'll start this off by stating the obvious

I love Matt Cooke. I think he's an important part of our team. He is one of our best penalty killers. He gets in the heads of our opponents. The tape to tape passes between him and Jordan are sick. He does many "little" things that have a lot of us begging for a new contract this summer. He also does a lot of things that make me cringe. His ability to "toe the line" between dirty plays and clean plays are sometimes worrisome because of the blurry NHL rulebook.

His hit on Savard yesterday was a clean hit by definition.

He did not receive a penalty for this hit. He didn't change speed. He didn't change direction. He didn't lift his arm. He just finished his check. I still feel like he had time to pull back because Savard A) had his head lowered and B) didn't know he was coming. The hit was necessary. The hit to the head was not. Which, I guess, is easy for me to say never having played professional hockey. It is important to note that Marc Savard is made of glass.

The hit is being compared to the Richards hit on Booth.

I'll start this part of my post by saying I'm obvioulsy not a Flyers fan. My views on this could be tilted or biased. Mike Richards received a major and a game misconduct for his hit on Booth. Looking at this hit, I see Richards charging Booth. His speed changes. His direction changes. He appears to lift himself up a bit. I see an intent to injure (for which he received the game misconduct). Mike Richards was not suspended.

Do I think Richards should have been suspended? Yes, without question.
Do I think Cooke should be suspended? No. Why? Because Richards wasn't and that hit looked way worse.
Do I think Cooke will be suspended? Probably. His name is Matt Cooke and he is a "repeat offender". Which is funny because if you're a "star" player, you don't get suspended for wrong-doings so you will never have the "repeat offender" tag sewn onto your sweater. Other than Alex Ovechkin, who was suspended earlier in the season. (Which, I believe, was more for his benefit than anybody else's. Nobody wants this guy's career cut short. Or at least nobody should.) So he now wears that "repeat offender" tag, right?

If the league is going to crack down on head shots, the punishment has to be consistent. In a just system, both Richards and Cooke would have been suspended for blows to the head. Intentional or not. They can't continue to suspend certain players. They can't pick and choose who gets a few games off and who doesn't. The suspension should be no different if your name is Cooke or Richards. Or Avery or Crosby. Or Carcillo or Malkin. Not that Crosby or Malkin are known for blurry plays, I'm just sayin'. It's not fair and it has to be addressed. There has to be sustainability no matter what your name is.

I'm not going to blame Savard or Booth for taking blows to the head. But. Isn't there a reason keeping your head up is a lesson taught very early in your hockey career? "Keep your head on a swivel", guys.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Marc Savard.

On a less serious note, if Cookie does get suspended, we solve our too many forwards problem when Billy G gets healthy (or stops being old).