Rasmus Dahlin throws violent reverse hit on an unsuspecting Nico Hischer, absolutely crushes him; clean or dirty?
Reverse hits remain one of the most controversial plays in hockey. The concept of a player suddenly stopping up and pushing his momentum backward into an unsuspecting opponent who does not have the puck might seem like "interference", but for one reason or another, it is a completely legal play according to the rulebook.
A couple of short seasons ago, former Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin (5'11) absolutely flattened then Jets captain Blake Wheeler (6'5) with a reverse hit that really shook up the enormous winger. You can see the play I'm referring to below:
The obvious argument here is that it's Wheeler that is in hot pursuit and looking to crush Sandin into the end boards. The problem is, Wheeler was reaching in to make a play on the puck to poke it past Sandin, rather than posturing up for a big hit - and since he was leaning forward to poke the puck out rather than to throw a hit, he caught the worst of the reverse check.
Last night, there was another incident where a reverse check absolutely rocked an unsuspecting forechecker who was simply trying to poke the puck out - this time Rasmus Dahlin on Nico Hischier. As you can see from the replay below, Hischier was actually stopping up to make a play on the puck when Dahlin turned his back and lept off of his skates to level the unsuspecting Hischier, who was shaken up on the play.
Hischier got up and went right after Dahlin. You could tell he wasn't a fan of the hit, nor were his teammates who each paired off with a Sabres player during the post-whistle scuffle. These are essentially blindside hits, as the opponent cannot see them coming. Sure, there's a bit of an art form to landing a reverse check cleanly, but given the fact that the player who throws the hit cannot accurately judge whether the player he is hitting is in a vulnerable position or not, these should absolutely be viewed as predatory hits - especially when a player leaves his skates to throw one, which is a penalty by the letter of the law in the NHL rulebook.
We know that Dahlin is a bit of a low-key dirty player who isn't afraid to get physical. Perhaps it's time Player Safety takes notice of Dahlin and some of his actions before someone does get seriously hurt.
| POLL | ||
25 MARS | 145 ANSWERS Rasmus Dahlin throws violent reverse hit on an unsuspecting Nico Hischer, absolutely crushes him; clean or dirty? Was this hit by Rasmus Dahlin on Nico Hischier clean or dirty? | ||
| Clean | 34 | 23.4 % |
| Dirty | 61 | 42.1 % |
| Reverse hits in general are bad | 32 | 22.1 % |
| Don't care | 18 | 12.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
