Roy: NHL should change suspension mindset
/Colorado Avalanche head coach Patrick Roy was asked his thoughts on the seven-game Matt Cooke suspension. Avs defenseman Tyson Barrie was injured by Cooke's kneeing play and will be sidelined for 4-6 weeks at a critical point of the season.
On the length of Cooke's suspension:
"We were very confident the league would make the right decision in that case. No matter how many games, that does not replace the player. The player, Tyson, is very valuable to us and very important to us.
"It doesn't matter if it's five games, 15 games, 20 games; I mean, we won't play with Tyson tonight. That's what we're thinking."
Do penalties need to be stiffer in order to get these sorts of plays to stop?
"Yeah, I guess there's different views. I think the league maybe could be more severe on suspensions. Sometimes they go 'ah, it's playoffs - playoffs equal two games in the regular season.'
"But I don't think it's the way we should think. I mean, it should be even worse when a team is losing a player. I mean, the suspension should be more heavy. I think... our game would benefit from it, in my opinion. If you double the suspension, I think the guy's going to think twice before... I mean, no one wants to miss playoffs, especially not for a suspension. You want to play those games... I think in the playoffs we should be more strict. We should not consider the fact that 'ah, you're in the playoffs... I mean, two games in the playoffs equals four games in the regular season.'
"I think we have to take that out of the equation now and really make the right call."