The New Jersey Devils were forced to sit back and watch another goon viciously attack one of their star players. It’s time for the players to fight back.
The display from Ottawa Senators forward Alex Burrows was disgusting. Let’s just get that out of the way. What he did to New Jersey Devils star forward Taylor Hall has no place in today’s game.
In case you missed it, here it is:
After a completely legal, and necessary, hit to keep the puck in the zone, a scrum started in front of the net. It started with some pushing and shoving, which is fine. Then Hall skated away from the scrum. That should have been the end of it. It wasn’t.
Burrows went after Hall as he was skating away. He grabbed the Devils star, slammed him to the ground, hammer punched him like it was MMA, and as the referees were trying to get him off he decided to throw multiple knees to the head. I will repeat, he threw multiple knees to the head of Taylor Hall.
Let’s ignore the fact that the Senators were winning by three goals. It’s not like they needed a spark, this was just a player who lost his mind. Hall even talked about Burrows’ past.
"“He’s losing his mind. He kneed me in the back of the head at one point too. He has a bit of a reputation for Player Safety stuff. I think he’s cleaned it up a lot in the recent past. But that didn’t feel great when he was rabbit punching me there.” -Taylor Hall"
What was even more stark was Devils head coach John Hynes saying Burrows “is what he is.”
This is happening all too often to the Devils. Marcus Johansson is currently out because he took an elbow to the head from the Bruins’ Brad Marchand. That gave him a concussion. Kyle Palmieri just took a flying punch from the Flyers’ Radko Gudas. The Devils continue to be on the wrong side of dirty hits.
It’s time for the Devils to take this into their own hands. Travis Zajac did that to Gudas after his illegal hit, and he was giving an instigating penalty. That doesn’t matter. Take the penalty to send the message. The team will get behind it. Even after giving up a goal on the ensuing Zajac penalty, they rallied to win the game.
I wrote last year that Miles Wood needs to stop fighting. I understand my mindset at the time. A player with so much skill doesn’t need to be the team’s goon. However, right now the Devils need someone who’s willing to scrap. Teams aren’t afraid to punch the Devils in the face because they’re not afraid of getting punched back.
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This team isn’t very tough physically. The biggest player on forward is Brian Boyle, who is fighting cancer right now. Nobody wants to fight him, as we saw with Tom Wilson’s fight against him. Ben Lovejoy had his first fight of the season last night, and he didn’t win. Somebody has to put fear into the hearts of the other team.
I’m not saying the team should waste a roster spot on a goon, but maybe they can give Jimmy Hayes a shot to protect the team’s players. Sure, he’s slow, but he’s also 6’5, 215 pounds. That’s a lot to put behind a punch. He can also shoot the puck, so it’s not like he’s completely useless in the offensive zone.
It’s just time for the Devils to get tougher. If they don’t, more players are going to get attacked. That’s what happened to Hall on Tuesday night, he was attacked. It’s time to fight back.