Brandon Dubinsky laid out Saku Koivu at the end of the second period of the Ducks‘ 4-3 win over Columbus, last night. Here’s the video again, if you haven’t seen it. I’ll meet you on the other side to discuss:
In the infamous words of Brendan Shanhan: "As the video clearly shows…" Koivu releases the puck, looks up ice and sees Dubinsky freight training right for him. From the original camera angle it looks as if Duby gets a good piece of Sak's body, but on the reverse angle there seems to be a lot of shoulder to head contact.
What I didn't notice until reading Harrison Mooney's take on Puck Daddy was that Koivu gets his hands and stick up to protect himself and it's his stick that makes the most contact with his own head. Check out the GIF link in the PD article for the best view of this.
The scary part of the video is Koivu squirming and trying to get up, but slipping back down to the ice a la Sami Kapanen(though not as many times). Koivu was taken out of the game, didn't have to put all of his weight on the trainers likeDustin Penner did last Sunday (slight silver lining) and Dubinsky got five minutes and a game misconduct for interference after the officials conferred on the play.
One interesting thing to note also is that in the scuffle after the hit, it's Cam Fowler who ends up tangling with Dubinsky. Two ways to look at that:
1) Good for Cam to recognize somebody has to stick up for one of the team's leaders getting blown the eff up. And the fact that he was willing to do it, despite not being one of the toughest guys in the lineup speaks volumes for how close this group is and how highly they regard Koivu.
2) There isn't enough sandpaper/grit/whatever you want to call it, in the Ducks lineup right now to deter this kind of thing and it falls on guys who aren't used to filling that role to stick up for their team mates. Don't be surprised if Bob Murray is more in line with this type of thinking and calls up a Zack Stortini or (perish the thought) Brad Staubitz in place of the injured Koivu, ESPECIALLY heading into Philly, Buffalo (sans John Scott) and Boston in the next three games.
In February of this year Dubinsky was fined the maximum $10,000 after receiving a boarding major and game misconduct for this hit on Rob Scuderi of the Kings.
So, prediction time… I say Shanny takes into account the impact of Kovu's stick and ends up giving Dubinsky 2-3 games. Leaning toward three because of the previous fine.
Thoughts?
UPDATE: Dubinsky gets nothing from the league and Rickard Rakell is called up in place of Koivu So…… nevermind all of this I guess.