Our Flyers site, Broad Street Hockey, has their initial reaction to the Salmela hit:
Broad Street Hockey Reacts To The Hit
It wasn’t a terribly late hit regardless, but if the argument is that Carter caught Salmela late, the obvious rebuttal is that if Michael Leighton makes the initial save, Salmela is right in front of him to bang home a rebound. Carter took care of that. Otherwise, I would say that this is an unnecessary hit, but given that little nuance it’s hard to make that judgment.
Travis is right in this case in that the hit is unnecessary but its another hit for the league to look at trying to phase out of the game. For a player to rebreak his nose and lose several teeth is ridiculous for a hit that is technically legal.
See More:
