Tag Archives: daniel carcillo

You Can’t Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

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By Ellen Chlumecky

February 5, 2015

Sometimes hockey players who have been playing the same way for an extended period of time are naive to change. This might be the case for Daniel Carcillo of the Chicago Blackhawks. Scratch the “might be,” he refuses to change his game for the rules of the NHL.

I wrote about Daniel Carcillo’s cross check to Mathieu Perreault about two weeks ago. On February 3rd, he came out with a statement about the incident. Carcillo stated, “I had thoughts when it happened, but right now I’m just trying to get past it. I don’t really see a point in rehashing any emotions that I had. You can’t do what I did in the league today; there’s no room for it.” Seems like a pretty sincere comment, right?

However he went on to say that despite his lengthy history with the league, it’s not going to change the way he plays the game, it hasn’t yet and it won’t in the future.  He made it clear that even after this serious offense, he still will not change his ways.

Even coach Joel Quenneville, who I rarely disagree with, made a statement saying that Daniel Carcillo did what he did because he has to bring an energy to the game. He said that he didn’t believe his resume has hurt him as far as how he’s competing and how he’s playing. Quenneville asserted that he thinks Carcillo sees the balance between rough play and having control over the situation.

I honestly couldn’t disagree with Quenneville more. I don’t believe Carcillo tries to control his game at all. I believe that sometimes he just blindly hits other players and doesn’t really think about what it will do to them or himself.

While I understand there are an excessive amount of reasons why a hockey player might hit another player, many that are reasonable. I also believe that these players make a conscious decision about whether or not they’re going to hurt another player.

While the enforcer’s job is be the tough guy and push around the team, I don’t feel it’s completely necessary to permanently or seriously injure another player. So no, with Carcillo’s current track record I don’t think he knows the balance between rough play and control.

While I want my team to be tough and be intimidating, there are other ways to do that. Carcillo needs to realize that if he continues to act the way he does, he’ll have to deal with serious consequences.

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Daniel Carcillo: A Liability or an Asset?

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By Ellen Chlumecky

January 22, 2015

As one of many long time Blackhawks fans, we have been through many ups and downs throughout our time as fans. We have encountered a long dry spell of losing, coaches who didn’t fit the bill, and players who sometimes seemed like they didn’t have a clue. Recently, one of the Blackhawks’ players has been acting inappropriately on the ice and is being rightly punished for it. This player is Daniel Carcillo.

Daniel Carcillo was suspended for six games on Monday because of his actions. Carcillo crosschecked Winnipeg Jets forward Mathieu Perreault on Friday, January 16th. Carcillo skated up behind Perreault and cross checked him in a downward motion. Carcillo connected his stick to Perreault’s left arm in the final seconds of the second period. Perreault did not return to the game after that and did not play again for the Jets on Sunday.

The league’s department of player safety discussed how they took into account the incident and Carcillo’s disciplinary history in deciding the appropriate length of the suspension. Carcillo will forfeit six games’ worth of salary, which equates to $40, 243.92.

This isn’t Carcillo’s first time with the Blackhawks. He had a one-year deal with the Blackhawks for the 2011-2012 season. This also isn’t the first time Carcillo has been suspended. Carcillo has been suspended or fined eleven previous times in his nine NHL seasons. Carcillo was last suspended in the playoffs last season when he elbowed a linesman in the face while Carcillo was being restrained. He was initially suspended ten games for abuse of officials and later had the suspension reduced to six games.

While Carcillo did not believe he did anything wrong or malicious, Winnipeg Jets’ coach thought a little differently. Paul Maurice who is the Winnipeg Jets; head coach said, “It was a vicious crosscheck to an unsuspecting player.” I personally fully agree with Maurice, even as a dedicated Blackhawks fan, I truly believe what Carcillo did wasn’t appropriate.

While of course hockey is an aggressive sport, there needs to be a line drawn in terms of safety. There have been far too many incidents in the sport of hockey where people have been permanently injured because certain players have a lack of respect for other people’s safety. There are ways to hit someone in the sport of hockey that don’t lead to permanent or career-ending damage.

I understand that hockey teams need tough players to defend their smaller players, however there is a line what they should or should not be allowed to do. While Carcillo said he had no intentions of hurting another player, I don’t believe you crosscheck without some intention of hurting someone an exponential amount. Many of these players need to understand that one wrong move and they could damage or permanently end someone’s career.

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