Perry got what he deserves; don't blame Zucker

Whenever one NHL player lays a dirty hit on another, lots of annoying things happen. There's outrage. There's self-serving outrage. There's outrage over the outrage. There are fans of the offending player who refuse to face reality.

And, of course, there's the crew that thinks that when a player watches the puck or, even worse, puts his head down, he essentially signs a waiver. "Hit me however you want. It's my fault, and I deserve whatever happens to me." They crop up every time, and they're weird, and they're tough to ignore. It's probably Twitter's fault.

In any case, we heard from some of those people on Tuesday night, when Corey Perry of the Anaheim Ducks shouldered Minnesota Wild winger Jason Zucker in the face about a second after Zucker had gotten rid of the puck.

On Wednesday, Perry heard from the league. He was suspended for four games and will lose more than $115,000 in salary for the hit, which left Zucker on his back near the boards.

Rob Blake, not Brendan Shanahan, delivered the news, and one sentence spoke directly to the "blame the injured guy" contingent: "In spite of the fact that all players should be aware of their surroundings, it is perfectly reasonable that Zucker should no longer expect to be hit this long after possession."

Blake called it a "late, illegal hit," which it was, and said that Perry had time to either avoid the check, or "minimize it significantly," which he did not.

Players need to be cognizant of what's going on around them—specifically, that there are five guys on the ice out to do whatever it takes, and give 110 percent, and finish their checks, and whatever other cliches spring to mind. But at some point, they should be able to reasonably assume that nobody is laser-focused on leaping into their skulls. Zucker, who thankfully skated on Wednesday, assumed incorrectly—and that's not his fault.

It's Perry's, and he deserves to pay the price. The 2011 MVP is missing games against the Dallas Stars, St. Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks and Chicago Blackhawks. Anaheim is 19-3-3 and leads the Pacific Division by 11 points.

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