Tuomo Ruutu Suspended 3 Games

I’m sorry, but I think this is bull****. Ruutu is not known as a dirty player and in my opinion that hit in no way merits all of this. He is being punished for the injury and not the hit. I feel horrible for Tucker and hope he recovers quickly, but dammit it was a bang, bang play. It absolutely was a penalty, but not a major, game misconduct and 3 game suspension. Tucker turned at the last minute and Ruu didn’t pull up when he should have. That kind of hit happens all of the time, and is usually just a 2:00 minor, but by freak luck Tucker was positioned in a way that he was seriously injured. I feel terrible for him and I’m sure Tuomo does to, but to come down on him so hard is absurd.

How many games did Doug Weight get for the Sutter hit? Tucker was against the boards and Ruutu het him in the back (he should have let up), but Weight hit Sutter in the head in the open ice. Much more dangerous hit, yet no suspension…

I honestly thought the punishment would be one game and a fine…. It was without question a poor decision on the part of Ruutu… but not with ill intentions…

But three games is probably a fair ruling….

on the flip side… Darcy Tucker probably doesn’t think that three games is enough….

As long as they call the hits the same for one of our guys if they get hit the same way as Ruutu hit Tucker then fine, I’ll miss him the three games he’s out. I think Tuomo’s one of the best guys we have on the team and he just isn’t as dirty as other teams try to make him out to be. At least maybe this will help people realize that they can’t keep pushing us around, they’ve been beating us up the past couple of games. Best wishes to Darcy Tucker for a speedy recovery, still a Ruutu fan.

Chip’s blog has been updated to include comments from the Coach:

“We’re disappointed that we’re going to lose an important player for three games,” Maurice said today. "The league has a process, they have to go through it. We respect their decision.

“And, nobody ever likes to see a player get injured. We hope the best for Darcy Tucker and hope he has a speedy recovery.”

Asked if he believed the hit warrented a suspension, Maurice said: "That’s an excellent question.

“I think the league makes its decision and we all abide by it, regardless of our opinion.

“There were things not present in the hit that I’m glad weren’t: he didn’t leave his feet, it wasn’t an elbow, Darcy wasn’t four feet off the boards where it could have been a real catastrophic event. He was right on the boards.

“It was a very, very hard hit that had an unfortunate result. But I expect Tuomo to finish that check.”

Also of note; Erik Cole has been placed on IR.

I believe Nov 1 is the earliest possible date Cole will be back, 4 weeks after Boston. Add in Whitney100 day, and we can just call that that game re-start of the season, shall we?

I put this on the other post, but when Walker didn’t get suspended after the AWard punch, it was difficult for him and the Canes to get past. By November 1, this Ruutu incident will be over and done, sentence served. Actually simplifies a lot.

Any word on Gleason for tonight?

Here’s from the Denver Post’s Adrian Dater’s blog last night

At least it’s not like Walker in Boston.

Fortunately, I’ve never witnessed a player become that seriously hurt in nearly 15 years of covering the NHL, but you know it can always happen. It’s a scary game sometimes. Those guys are moving so fast out there. I’m sure all serious hockey fans have seen a game from fairly up close before, but if you haven’t, you have no idea until you do just how incredibly fast those guys are going and just how split-second everything is.

That’s why, as bad as Ruutu’s hit seemed tonight – and guaranteed he’ll get a suspension for it, probably at minimum 3-5 games – I’m not sure it rose to "totally dirty" level. Ruutu was trying to finish a check. Granted, to a guy with his back turned, but things happen fast out there. I don’t think any player goes into a game thinking, ‘Hey, I want to get my butt suspended tonight with a real dirty hit. I want my reputation sullied, my paycheck withheld and my team at a disadvantage because of it too."
It was a hard hit, a suspension-worthy hit probably, but I don’t think it’s something that we should all totally villify him for. It happened fast. Tucker’s head hit the glass in an unfortunate way and he got hurt. Let’s hope it turns out OK.

So why is Sutter being called up? Is he going to play wing? We already have 5 centers on the team…

I’m taking away a few things from this:
1. To everyone, but Canes’ fans (and even then, not all of us), I think Ruutu’s image and reputation have taken a serious hit. His brother’s antics aren’t helping him any either. People will be gunning for him from now on and he’ll be under a microscope until something worse happens.
2. I don’t think this is in any way, shape or form as “dirty” as the Cole hit. The equal suspensions for the two incidents stem from Orpik not getting enough time IMO, not Ruutu getting too much.
3. Dirty or not, Ruutu had to be suspended for multiple games. If positions were reversed, we’d all be shouting for Tucker to be suspended as well. Hopefully, he’ll learn from it and be more careful in the future. On the flip side of that coin, you wonder if his game will suffer because of a new found timidness.
Despite my personal feelings about Tucker, I hope he recovers quickly and fully.

Bottom line, the team cannot let this distract them from fixing the other things that went wrong last night (Staal coming off his discipline at the end being one of them). They have to pull themselves together and some wins put together.

ice_chip says Cam Ward is starting tonight. No practice/skate today.

espn’s headline says TEEMU rutuu

WOW
WOW

way to go espn. like does the person who writes these things even watch hockey?>

BTW- I just checked my fishtank chemistry. It’s improved tremendously since Oct 6 the last time I checked it. We’re on our way now to get a Chad LaRose and a Matt Cullen pair. Maybe this is better than sacrificing a hamster.

This from Darren Draegar (source unknown) on his Twitter account:

DarrenDreger Tucker…40 stitches after hitting head on ice. He is concussed. likely out at least 10 days.

Two things.

First, I read that Tucker has been released from the hospital but obviously out indefinitely until he gets over the concussion issues.

Second, and it’s a n00b question, but I’m not that familiar with suspensions. What happens with Tuomo over the next week? It was mentioned during the broadcast that he’s “off the ice” while he serves his suspension. Does that mean he’s allowed to practice with the team or is he held out of practice and skates separate from the team? Just curious.

Tripp did say that he skated today even though the team didn’t practice, so it’s encouraging that he’s being diligent while he’s out and hopefully says a little about where his head is right now.

One game down, two to go.