Pittsburgh's UberGoon Matt Cooke gets Unpaid Leave

A stunned Matt Cooke gets some time to reflect.

Matt Cooke has been suspended the rest of the regular season (10 games) AND the first round of the playoffs. With any luck, Pittsburgh will get ousted in the first round and Cooke can just take the time off he deserves.

NHL Network blowhard and former NHL Career Backup Kevin Weekes actually made a decent point. He talked about how playing in the NHL is a privilege and Cooke just doesn't get it despite being sat down and talked to by just about everyone in power from Byslma to Campbell. Perhaps even Gary Bettman himself. Heck, when the guy who works on the financials between the team and your agent says "Heck yeah, the suspension was a great idea!" COULD you possibly ignore it again? Weekes is right on. I bet no reader of this blog nor any hockey player, coach, or fan could post in this comment section the name of ONE minor league player in Pittsburgh's system or free agent CHLer or free agent NCAA grad who wouldn't jump at the chance to take Cooke's slot on the Pens.


Take away his illegal hits and incredible lack of anything resembling a brain and he's actually a pretty decent hockey player. He can score. He can play gritty. He can win faceoffs. He can fight. He just can't play the game legally.

Look, illegal hits will happen. Injuries and concussions will happen too. But when you go out and do such a thing on a repetitive basis, then you are showing a different attitude than what is in the spirit of the game. It's because of this that I think that he's an unbelievable idiot. I can understand the vehement anger regarding Chara's hit, but his was the first incident this season and I HIGHLY doubt he'd repeat this if given the opportunity to. But Cooke's earlier hit on Tyutin was rationalized by saying that Tyutin didn't protect himself. He is already famous for injuring Marc Savard and saying that he was only "trying to make his presence known."

An Interesting Rule Change

Speaking of Penguins and GM meetings... I'm watching the DET vs. PIT debacle (or PIT Domination if you are a PIT fan or hate the Wings, whichever) and during the intermission, one of the intermission commentators suggested that a suspended player's slot should be forfeited by the team for the duration of the suspension. So, instead of 23 players on the active roster, Pittsburgh would only be allowed 22 until the second round of the playoffs.

The NHLPA wouldn't like that much, but I can't see the fans or the League being against it. It would certainly harm the team as much as it hurts the player.

I'm for it.

Penguins’ hack gets flimsy four game suspension

I know we have covered this subject a lot here but I really think that Matt Cooke needs to be suspended more than four games, his latest suspension is a friggen joke and a travesty. This was an opportunity for the NHL to throw the book at this P.O.S. and make a statement that they will no longer tolerate this kind of crap anymore, they let him off the hook with a flimsy four game suspension.

Hey I don't have a problem with players being a pest and it’s one thing to be a antagonize but Cooke goes way beyond the what should be considered ethical behavior on the ice. In looking around the internet today there is a common theme among the fans and bloggers, Matt Cooke needs to sit and there needs to be some teeth to his suspension, maybe a lengthy 15-20 game suspension. Cooke’s four game suspensions is a joke and is basically the league condoning his behavior. Cooke tried to take Ovenchkin’s knee out earlier this week, now this. The next time Cooke commits another dirty hit or bush league the league needs to make it hurt.

NHL.COM --- Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins was suspended four games by the NHL on Wednesday for hitting Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Fedor Tyutin from behind Tuesday night, according to Nick Kypreos of Rogers Sportsnet.

I have to agree with Don Cherry that Matt Cooke is a back stabbing piece of _________. We don’t need to put it down here because you know I mean. If you think I am over blowing this go back and watch this video, this is the kind of player Matt Cooke is, in my opinion Cooke is a text book definition of thuggery and goonery. [Click to watch]<<<--Watch this video it's a great historical breakdown of Cooke's antics.

Today on XM-204 Jeremy Roenick called Matt Cooke a chicken shit. [Click to listen]

McLeod = Campbell

In reading this Colin Campbell’s statement yesterday, I am beginning to wonder if Bruce McLeod isn’t a Colin Campbell clone or cut from the same mold?

"No one likes when a player like Marc Savard goes down the way he did. No one likes when a player like David Booth goes down the way he did. But we have to be consistent. I know Matt Cooke is a repeat offender, he's been suspended twice in the last year. I can't suspend Matt Cooke for being a repeat offender, I have to find a reason. Right now our rules say that shoulders to head are legal. Matt Cooke did not jump, and did not do anything that we found illegal in his actions even though again you don't like what happened. I know it's not something that Boston fans, or hockey fans would like to hear. They want justice. We feel we have to be consistent and do what we feel is right and hopefully we've gone to a place in our meetings today that we can eradicate plays like this in the future."

- NHL Sr. VP of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell
[Stanley Cup of Chowder]

NHL not serious about protecting it's players.

I was driving around town when I found out that the disgusting waste of human life Matt Cooke was not suspended by the NHL for the hit above. You have got to be kidding me? Think about this for a moment; the NHL just spent three days meeting in Boca Raton, Florida discussing head shots and wanting to elimiate them from the NHL and then this ruling from Colin Campbell comes down.

Seriously, is your head spinning yet? Mine is. I am not sure how I can write this blog post without using colorful and profane language to describe how feel about that disgusting piece of camel dung that is Matt Cooke. If you watch any amount of NHL hockey you will know Matt Cooke is a cheap shot artist that skates up and down the ice taking liberties with opposition players. When Challenged to a fight for his thuggery Matt Cooke will turtle and or will only fight European and other more skilled players not known for their fighting skills.

I hold Cooke in the same low regard that I held former thug Claude Lemieux and eventually they get what is rightfully coming to them, live by the sword you die by the sword. Eventually, someone is going to come to collect on the bill that past due and Matt Cooke won’t be able to duck out or turtle this time. This is what I hope happens to Mister Cooke, check out this beat down that Claude “the Fraud” took.

Some examples of Matt Cooke's thuggery

The Matt Cooke knee on Eric Cole

Cooke Cheaps Anisimov - 2 Game Suspension