Matt Cooke is a terrible human being

Why not have a post to trash players on the Flyers rival? Not that trashing Matt Cooke is hard. Easily top-5 dirtiest player in the league, if the not #1.

Served up another gem last night.

Really? Leaving your feet to make an illegal board? That is pretty low. Never mind the absurd rationalization by the Penguins announcers that Cooke 'glided' in, which is laughable. Of course this hit comes right on the heels of a very questionable hit on Ovechkin.

And let's not forget his hit on Marc Savard, who was just announced as out of for the season with lingering concussions issues. Surely this hit was on everybody's mind when passing the new blindside hit-headshot rule.

Of course those hits might be his specialty. Never mind leaving his feet in an attempt to contact the head. Kind of the definition of headhunting.

But can't leave out some other knee-to-knee hits or boards.

I'm not sure you can find more evidence of a player that hits to injure vulnerable players. Let's hope for a long suspension.

Also needs to be mentioned the absurd homer-ism of Pens announcers on some of these clips. These are all blatantly bad hits; easy boarding calls, headhunting, and sticking out the knee. It's hard to take these announcers seriously when they give some squirmy, obviously wrong, defense of the hit.

Terrible, terrible human being.

UPDATE: Jeremy Roenick bonus contribution! (Partial transcript of radio appearance)

Roenick: "Does it surprise you? Does it surprise you that Matt Cooke would be so ..."

Ross: "Dumb?"

Roenick: "Chickenshit, and do that?

"Right from behind. Blatant from behind. Fedor Tyutin didn't even turn. Didn't move. Was standing there for three or four seconds, and he still hit him from behind."

Roenick: "Not one second did he see anything but his name and his number. It goes back to so many different things that I talk about when it comes to the respect factor. Matt Cooke, No. 1, doesn't have respect for anyone. He's one of the least favorite guys in the League by the players for a reason. Hitting Savard, having that all situation ... granted, you decide what you think on that. But this situation last night is exactly what gives players bad names, gives guys bad names. It's why we have injuries. It's why someone's going to get either paralyzed or killed on the ice one of these days. Because of idiot, idiot, idiot people and plays like Matt Cooke did last night."

Roenick: "He might be a great player for a team. But all in all, when it comes down to it, you have most of the people don't like you, most of the people don't respect you. And the respect factor becomes big. Because when you lose that respect, you've lost a lot.

"I totally disagree about taking him on your team. You want a guy that has integrity that has class, that has hard work. You don't go to that disrespect aspect or that lack of integrity that's going to make your team look bush league, and last night was a terrible display of gamemanship (sic).

Roenick: "That situation last night did not happen instinctively. It did not happen quickly. He had three or four seconds to make up his mind and drive those numbers into the glass."

"That's a situation where you take Matt Cooke, because of his history, into the office and you give him 20 games flat. Twenty games, gone, thanks for coming."