Patrice Cormier LHJMQ, elbow to the head

[Da Beez 0]

so now lou officially got him out of the organization...

That was well played by Lou.

[Chadd 916]

so now lou officially got him out of the organization...

That was well played by Lou.

The only problem with that thinking is, Lou didn't want to give him up.

"We had asked for Cormier, and they were really resilient about that; they wanted to talk about other prospects," Waddell said. "I said to Lou, 'This is an important piece for us, and it has to be in the deal.' Once we got past that point, we were able to get it done."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?...e=lebrun_pierre

[cdoug55 0]

That might be true, but who really knows what Lou's thinking was. I wouldn't put much weight on the thinking of the Devil's organization based upon a statement by the Thrashers. We don't know what the talks were like and what points were difficult to hash out. Just because Lou appeared to not want to give him up doesn't mean that he didn't have every intention to get ride of him. There is a fine art to negotiating. I have a feeling that after that incident Lou was not happy with having him associated with the team.

[Chadd 916]

That might be true, but who really knows what Lou's thinking was. I wouldn't put much weight on the thinking of the Devil's organization based upon a statement by the Thrashers. We don't know what the talks were like and what points were difficult to hash out. Just because Lou appeared to not want to give him up doesn't mean that he didn't have every intention to get ride of him. There is a fine art to negotiating. I have a feeling that after that incident Lou was not happy with having him associated with the team.

If you don't want someone making assumptions based on comments that have been reported, you really should refrain from making assumptions based on nothing other than your personal feelings.

[cdoug55 0]

I didnt say you shouldnt make assumptions based on what is reported. I was just stating that I wouldn't put that much weight on what GM's state in press statements and that despite what Lou may have said in the press may or may not have been his real intentions in a negotiation. After that I was just giving my own opinion on the situation.

[Hipster 5]

Most of his hits were like that. Stevens was a dirty hitter if you ask me, which i understand no one has.

Yes and no. While I agree that a lot of Stevens hits were dirty,I believe they were dirty because they were made primarily with intent to injure and intimidate rather than simply regain posession or neutralize a threat.

Hard as it may be to believe, In Stevens long NHL career, he only had 5-6 penalties for elbowing. He lined guys up with their head down and drilled them with his shoulder. Technically, its a "clean hit", but not much regard for the safety of fellow players (opponents) who were simply making a living like him.

[Hipster 5]

I agree, this is more like the Downie incident to me. He came off the bench and went right out and tagged the guy in the head. I'm just saying Stevens was a headhunter and if that didn't bother Lou on some level, then this won't either.

He just wasn't quite so obvious about it.

He was good at catching someone that was engaged with another player and was able to target the head with his shoulder. He didn't have to throw out the elbow very often.

Yep. Stevens was expert at spotting the offensive guy engaging his NJ defensive partner at the Blueline, whereby he would swoop hard into the same defensive lane and catch the guy blind. With the player moving 15mph and Stevens swinging in at 10-12mph, that makes for an absolutely massive collision force.

As far as Patrice Cormier's assault goes, If I was Mikael Tam's brother or father, the court system and potential career damage would be the least of Cormier's threats.