Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated has a rather lengthy and inquisitive feature story about New York Islanders winger Chris Simon which asks the same question I'm sure most of us ask whenever we hear coaches and teammates defend a player after a malicious stick foul: So who is he, really: the tough guy given to swinging his stick or the guy Nolan says will do charity events at 6 a.m.? The guy who earned the NHL's longest suspension or a committed teammate who merely had what Hamrlik calls a "cuckoo moment?"For too long in the NHL, players that exhibit a complete disregard for the safety of their peers on the ice are lauded for being solid citizens or "nice guys" away from the rink. It happened with Simon, and it happened more recently with Flyers goon Jesse Boulerice. It reminds me of the old, pre-divorce Howard Stern defense: It's OK if he spanks a woman's bare derriere with a dead fish on his radio show as long as he's a good husband back home. The "entertainer" is separate from the "real" individual away from the show.
But beyond what is an interesting character study about "a man who has been suspended more often than disbelief," I think some real and rather embarrassing news about the Islanders comes out in the piece:
After his disciplinary hearing with NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell, Simon issued a nine-paragraph apology. In it, he let it drop that when he swung his stick he was still dazed from being checked into the boards from behind by [Ryan] Hollweg. (According to a source with knowledge of the drafting of the apology, Islanders owner Charles Wang wanted to mention Simon's possible concussion as a way of "getting out in front" of the story.) Simon said he had stayed in bed for about a week with headaches. He also said his eyes were overly sensitive to light, a symptom consistent with a Grade 2 concussion, according to American Academy of Neurology guidelines. But Simon's apparent haze sounded like a hockey variation of the Twinkie Defense; instead of sugar, a concussion had made him behave aberrantly. Judging by his record, however, the concussion just made him more like himself.So at a time when concussions in the NHL are a very serious issue -- and, as FanHouse's Eric McErlain noted, are seriously under-reported by teams and players -- an NHL owner encouraged Simon to use a possible head injury as an excuse for the stick work on Hollweg? Despicable, if true ... I wonder how a guy like Keith Primeau feels about that "Twinkie Defense?"
