Don't Turn Around: Boarding Calls

After watching the Leafs and Canucks game last weekend and seeing the Leafs take a few boarding calls it got me thinking that this is a great way for teams to draw a penalty in today's game. Most of the time when a player has the puck they will shield themselves from the opposing player and protect the puck, but if that player is anywhere near the boards or spins quickly when he feels pressure there will be contact and chances are that player will get knocked down.

With the way the referees are calling penalties these days to protect players you can bet the refs will have no choice but to make that call. It's tough to know what the intention of the turning player is as they could be looking to draw a penalty or avoid a hit, but in the end it puts the player in danger like we've seen already this season. Take the Cody McLeod hit on Niklas Kronwall last month:

Kronwall even admitted the hit was mostly his fault and it resulted in a 5-game suspension for McLeod. Hockey's a fast game and when a guy is lining you up for a hit in the corner it's hard to slow up when a guy makes a sudden turn. Good on Kronwall for saying he put himself in a dangerous situation although McLeod could have tried a little better to avoid crushing him into the endboards.

Even last night we were reminded about the dangers of trying to avoid checks by turning as Seth Jones got plastered into the boards by Jamie McGinn. As much as McGinn left his feet, you can see Jones try and avoid the hit by turning away from it and placing himself in a dangerous position. Thankfully Jones was alright and remained in the game, but we want to see the kid play the season out as a Calder candidate and not on injured reserve. It's time for the NHL to circulate a highlight reel of "turns" set to Ace of Base for the safety of the players.