Cooke suspended two games - 1-27-09

Penguins forward Matt Cooke (above) has been suspended for two games by the NHL for hitting Hurricanes forward in the head during Carolina's 2-1 win at Mellon Arena, Jan. 20.

EN Says: Just another day in paradise for the Penguins. We criticize Michel Therrien quite a bit over his constant shuffling of line combinations but he's forced into doing so many times due to the team's injuries and now this suspension.

It's hard to argue with the decision. The league wants to crack down on blows to the head and this is just what they're doing. If Cooke hit him in the head, he deserves to sit.

That said, it's kind of unsettling to know a blow to the head is only worth one more game in terms of punishment than say... skipping a media session at an all-star game.

Another thing that has us scratching our heads is why did the NHL take almost a week to levy this decision? We know the All-Star break was this past week, but that didn't stop the league from dropping the hammer on the Red Wings for skipping the weekend's festivities.

(Photo: Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)