The Hockey

Lucic is too slow, the game is starting to leave him behind. The only way he could catch Kassian is if he had a head start.

As far as Lucic being a clean player, go back in time and watch some of his Bruins footage.

My Lucic comment was more to do with being equally sized in a physical game - ketchup has (black) heart and has to throw himself at it but he is a definitely a hawk (predatory) and seems to have the chip of a 2nd gen NHL'er. Whether a coach or a team mate, I'd expect a vet to step up unless Ketch's actions were detrimental to the team. That'd be Lucic. Just look at old man Joe lately, he's chippy AF. So Gandalf the Grey has mores scrote than an East Van Lucic?

I would take a forty year old Thornton over Lucic any day of the week. Milan has heart but never came close to the skill level of big Joe. Don’t be such a homer.

Kudos to Derek Leung for capturing the very essence of Tkachuk.  It's almost like Kassian is smiling because he knows somewhere, someone is getting this shot.

someone should photoshop "Pussy" onto the cuffs of his gloves, Warrior definitely does not apply

I dont get what all the hate for Tkachuk is.  He put a legitimate hit on a guy that he knew would likely retaliate. He drew a penalty, his team scored the winning goal on the power play.  Sure, you can see him as a 'coward' cuz he didnt fight, or as a smart player that helped his team win the game. Seems to me Kassian is too slow/inept to deal with the pace of play and is more of a liability than an asset.

Kassian gives a great interview on the latest "Kes & Juice" podcast.  Great to hear him talk about how he turned his life around.

Posted by: shoreboy

I dont get what all the hate for Tkachuk is.  He put a legitimate hit on a guy that he knew would likely retaliate. He drew a penalty, his team scored the winning goal on the power play.  Sure, you can see him as a 'coward' cuz he didnt fight, or as a smart player that helped his team win the game. Seems to me Kassian is too slow/inept to deal with the pace of play and is more of a liability than an asset.

I can see the hate being that if a player is going to run around being a shit disturber then they need to take responsibility for it when they get called out. It shows weak character to run and hide if one is constantly poking the bear and then gets caught.

Kassian was told by McDavid to keep his head up after the first hit.  He should probably also learn how to put his helmet on. If you are going to skate around with the puck with your head down, you are going to get hit. In my opinion there's a right time and place to drop the gloves and fight as an agitator,  turns out this wasnt the time as it was the turning point for the team to get the win.

I think the bigger issue is that a lot of players/coaches/GMs are unhappy with the NHL's inconsistency deciding what is/isn't suspendable.  If that hit had been on McDavid, Tkachuk would have for sure gotten a Raffi Torres level suspension.

Posted by: shoreboy

I dont get what all the hate for Tkachuk is.  He put a legitimate hit on a guy that he knew would likely retaliate. He drew a penalty, his team scored the winning goal on the power play.  Sure, you can see him as a 'coward' cuz he didnt fight, or as a smart player that helped his team win the game. Seems to me Kassian is too slow/inept to deal with the pace of play and is more of a liability than an asset.

I don’t hate Tkachuk, he’s got smarts and a higher then average skill set. BUT, go back and look at the hit. I just did again. The rat takes FIVE strides and two of the three hits were clearly charging. I think we can all agree he was looking for Kassian all game. If he had targeted Draisaitl, after the first hit he wouldn’t have gotten the next two. The only reason he didn’t see the box is because of Kassian's rep. That said, if Thachuk was a Canuck I’d be giddy.

Bam!

Kesler said he lost the majority of his fights and fought players tougher than he was. “You got to at least throw. You can’t just turtle like he did after you throw two clean but dirty hits

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cult-of-hockey/ryan-kesler-lays-down-the-law-on-matt-tkachuk-everybody-that-knows-the-game-of-hockey-thinks-what-kassian-did-is-right/wcm/fec1c17d-b79e-43f5-a38e-216335287e99?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR2bDpxQJdzQeq05KQRza7_R_Ql9u-Yeq6x6RGlfTJ2jdGdjoytdeNFhGvU#Echobox=1579497821

Posted by: FLATCH

I would take a forty year old Thornton over Lucic any day of the week. Milan has heart but never came close to the skill level of big Joe. Don’t be such a homer.

That wasnt the point of my comment. If Lucic cant score anymore, he should be punishing people along the boards, not the little shit Ketch. Lucic is more Kassians size. And old man Joe is losing some respect for some chippy shit. He's probably hanging out with Evander.

The result was the same, but at least Tkachuk went down swinging this time.  Good on him for stepping up.