Pittsburgh Penguins winger and arch-villain-of-the-moment Matt Cooke met the media yesterday for the first time since the NHL handed him a 4-game suspension for this hit on Fedor Tyutin of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
As expected, he offered a tear-filled apology to Tyutin for endangering him, to Penguins fans for taking a suspension when the team is desperately shorthanded and to the NHL for providing yet another blight of a highlight that earned ESPN airtime ....
Wait, what? He didn't do any of that and steadfastly claimed he wasn't trying to injure Tyutin with a hit from behind two feet away from the boards?
Oh, OK then.
From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette:
"I'm glad that no one was hurt. It wasn't my intention to put him into the boards violently. He played the rest of the game and played [since]."
Cooke said in consultation with Bylsma, he has altered his game to avoid the type of hits to the head covered in the NHL's new Rule 48 -- adopted at least in part because of a hit by Cooke that left Boston's Marc Savard with a severe concussion. But his suspension was for a different sort of hit, one for which Cooke hinted Tyutin bore some responsibility.
"From my standpoint as a guy who is physical on the ice, guys are trying to be physical with me," Cooke said. "I know who's on the ice, and I'm responsible for myself. I'm not going to leave myself in a vulnerable position two feet from the boards when I know someone's coming."
See, this is actually progress for our understanding of Matt Cooke.
While many players turn their back to a hit in order to draw a penalty in today's League, Tyutin did so to protect and play the puck, knowing that NHL rules and player decorum would decrease the odds anyone would hit him between the numbers and the shoulders, driving his face into the glass.
The hit, for context:
What Cooke saw, meanwhile, was a player that left himself in a "vulnerable position two feet from the boards." He was asking for it, obviously; just like Steve Montador of the Buffalo Sabres was last Friday when he was belly-down on the ice and had the linesman on top of him, opening the door for Cooke to jump on the pile and smack him. You never go belly-down on the ice and have an official pinning you down! That's like a giant ‘kick me!' sign in CookeWorld, dummy!
Good news, however: Thanks to discussions with Coach Dan Bylsma, who didn't want to see him change his style, Cooke said he's decided to change his ways. In the sense that he'll no longer nonchalantly concuss another player from the blindside. From the Tribune-Review:
"I've altered my game," Cooke said, a reference to eliminating hits like the one that sidelined Boston center Marc Savard for two months last season. "I've had a meeting with the coach for not hitting a guy coming through the middle. There's a really high risk of being suspended, and I've not hit that guy."
To his credit, Cooke said he was "glad that no one was hurt" on the Tyutin hit.
To his detriment, Cooke says he'll avoid the kind of hit that can alter, or end, a career because "there's a really high risk of being suspended."
And that's Matt Cooke respecting his peers.
Like we've said before: This guy isn't the devil. They guy shouldn't be banned from the NHL. This guy isn't on the path to some Chris Simon moment of sociopathic wickedness. He's a dirty player with little regard for anyone not wearing the same sweater he's wearing, and every generation has two or three of these guys. (Some of whom are given a pass by teammates and fans because they have impressive stats, play with hustle or win the 1995 Conn Smythe Trophy for Stanley Cup Playoffs Most Valuable Player.)
But based on his words, Cooke's more concerned with his own games lost via his actions than the games lost for his victims. And that's a bit twisted.
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