Choose Your Niklas Hjalmarsson Retaliation: A Hit, Fight Or Beyond?

by Rafal Ladysz on Oct 15, 2010 1:02 PM EDT

The world operates in mysterious ways and Niklas Hjalmarsson's suspension for boarding Jason Pominville earlier this week is living proof. Receiving a two-game ban, the defenseman will conveniently set foot on the ice tomorrow as the Buffalo Sabres look to even the score in the win column and on behalf of their fallen teammate.

Historically, they haven't been very proficient in dealing with these types of matters, but they have a few players who will be targeting the Swede. Before getting to these possibilities, I want to stress that I do not want to see Hjalmarsson get hurt or injured. He's a clean player who is new to this delicate situation, and he simply misread the play on Pominville.

If the Sabres are serious about taking a stand and defending one of their top players, it's likely that the referees will have their hands full in Chicago. How they do it is entirely up to them. Cody McCormick, whose physical play has been terrific, has already fought twice and been the voted winner on both occasions. A second option is Patrick Kaleta taking the body and making the boards rattle throughout the evening. His comments prior to the suspension's announcement indicate that he'll do just that.

"It'll get taken care of either with the league," Sabres right wing Patrick Kaleta said before the decision was announced, "or I think we play them Saturday, so we'll make a point that you can't be taking hits like that against one of our leaders and one of the better players on our team."

Paul Gaustad and Steve Montador aren't strangers to throwing punches, as they've been involved in previous fights. Craig Rivet, were it not for his shoulder surgery, would be a fifth choice for this assignment. He'll be better off letting a teammate handle this one.

In conclusion, do you believe Niklas Hjalmarsson should be confronted and if so, who would you like to see as the initiator and in what form? Or does he deserve the benefit of the doubt and forgiveness because of his intentions not being violent?

Poll

Who should confront Niklas Hjalmarsson and how?

Cody McCormick (Fight)

118 votes

Patrick Kaleta (Multiple Checks)

172 votes

Paul Gaustad (Fight)

35 votes

Steve Montador (Fight)

17 votes

Nobody, leave him alone

142 votes

Other

27 votes

511 votes | Poll has closed

Tweet Comment 16 comments | 0 recs |

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Comments

Other – Score as many goals past him as possible.

On the Mike Weber bandwagon.
Everything wrong with the Sabres is Drew Stafford's fault.

by Ubiquitous on Oct 15, 2010 1:26 PM EDT reply actions 3 recs

Hit hard and win the game 6 to 0. I don’t think fighting is really going to do anything.

"The three important elements of hockey are: forecheck, backcheck and paycheck." - Gil Perreault

by FloridaBuffalo on Oct 15, 2010 1:26 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

Rafal my man, youre back. Havent seen your name pop up lately.

I wish I could have voted for multiple choices. I voted for Kaleta rockin some bodies. I expect him to to do that night in and night out… but I think he’ll have a little more “oomf” in his checks Saturday night.

I also expect there to be a fight… but I doubt it will involve Hj… Chicago knows we’re going to be physical… so Id expect one of their tought guys to back their players as well.

But a win in the long run will hurt a lot more than the body checks at the end of the day…

Buffal Bills. We have no 'O'

by bflo on Oct 15, 2010 1:27 PM EDT reply actions

ya, i've been real busy with school and work

i won’t get to post as much as i did before

by Rafal Ladysz on Oct 15, 2010 1:30 PM EDT reply actions

Multiple punishing checks from Kaleta and a 5-0 Sabres victory please.

"Ability without character will lose. The Bills are going to be a team of high character. That stamp I will push very hard. I hope we can convey that to our fans and project something very special to the rest of the nation." - Marv Levy

by BuffaloBlueBlood on Oct 15, 2010 2:01 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

I'll take a win and some good Kaleta checks....

and NEVER a Montador fight. If I want to watch two guys hug it out, I’d watch Will and Grace.

by bgred105 on Oct 15, 2010 2:31 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs

I'd second that

Winning should be the first thing, but i do want to see kaleta be a huge pest and have them draw some penalties. if it calls for one, mccormick is always down for a fight

by manic hispanic on Oct 15, 2010 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Winning NHL games should be the concern

not this stupid juvenile stuff.

by ccthemovieman on Oct 15, 2010 3:15 PM EDT reply actions

I have this feeling that Kaleta could let his emotions get the best of him and pull a Bertuzzi. Just because I wouldn’t put it past him

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by Zachary Zielonka on Oct 15, 2010 4:26 PM EDT reply actions

Lord I hope not…

"Don't worry about my Cap." - Lou Lamoriello

by Skuba7 on Oct 15, 2010 6:09 PM EDT up reply actions

another stupid embarrassing headbutt.

"The three important elements of hockey are: forecheck, backcheck and paycheck." - Gil Perreault

by FloridaBuffalo on Oct 15, 2010 6:57 PM EDT up reply actions

I want to see

a lot of big (CLEAN) hits. And more importantly, a win.

I think a fight against “Hammer” (as Chicago fans call him) should be avoided, because it would be retaliatory. By definition, that would be an instigator penalty against Buffalo. I don’t think it’s worth an instigator penalty for revenge, since I don’t believe the intent to injure was there. It was a reckless play and he has served (what I believe to be) an appropriate suspension.

by The Burl 8 on Oct 15, 2010 11:06 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs

Greetings from Chicago

I’m not here to start a fight, I just wanted to say that I’m very impressed with how level headed you all have been about this, with some exceptions. I know plenty of teams who would have gone Reg Dunlop and offered bounties on Hammer’s head. I don’t think Hammer’s intent was to injure, and it wasn’t to the head (the glass, however, scrambled Pom’s melon pretty bad) that being said, it was a dangerous hit that deserved a game misconduct and a suspension. I was hoping for one game, but with the NHL being the way it is, two games wasn’t unfair. Anyways, thanks for being so pragmatic, as most fans immediately would have been screaming for blood without thinking about intent or how revenge would affect their team.

PS: In college, when the Hawks were in the toliet, the Sabers kept me interested in hockey, plus you have American Hero Ryan Miller, which is awesome.

My hatred of the Canucks is matched only by my love of drinking.

by whiskeyboy on Oct 16, 2010 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions

The big picture

To those who say skip retaliation in favor of winning the game, that’s what’s wrong with this team. They always try to take the power play instead of revenge. Which sets the tone that we are weak and soft. And we are. No one worries about playing us. We may have nights where we open a can of offence and bury a team, but we don’t scare anyone. We need to change that, and it will win many more games in the long run. Forget the guy with a funny name. Hit Toews and Sharp. They didn’t injure Butler, they hurt one of our goal scorers.

by propheadj on Oct 16, 2010 9:33 AM EDT reply actions

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD

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by furrer4heisman on Oct 16, 2010 11:40 AM EDT reply actions

WIN, WIN

Nevermind about fighting. They should have fought in the game it happen in. I think this team needs to get back to scoring goals and winning games as quick as they can.

jerry

by rush1 on Oct 16, 2010 5:43 PM EDT reply actions