With the preseason now in full swing, hockey is back with all of its warts. In last night's game, Edmonton Oilers' defenceman Darnell Nurse threw a ridiculously irresponsible hit against the Canucks' Dakota Joshua.
In the video below, see that the puck isn't anywhere near Joshua when Nurse appears to decide to lock him up defensively behind the net. Instead of making any sort of hockey play though, Nurse instead gives Joshua a cross check to the back that sends him into the boards in a vulnerable spot.
Developing a reputation for this sort of play, Nurse should start to play with more caution, and completely stop making dangerous hits like this one if he wants to avoid suspensions. However, that would assume the Department of Player Safety is at all competent, which just isn't the case. Maybe this season, the NHL will take a tougher stance on dangerous hits.
