He has a job to do and, he does it well. He hits people, he agitates and he produces (46 points last year for a pest is not too bad). Does he cross the line? Of course he does. But, as you said, it messes with the other team. The Blues admitted to losing focus after Ott made Cola go flying.

Is Ott a dirty player? Probably. There is a long line of dirty players in the NHL — Jordin Tootoo, Bryan Marchment, Claude Lemieux to name a few. But players of is ilk aren’t going to go away. The advantage you get from having a guy fly around hitting people (dirty or not) and distracting the other team and making them only out for blood is too big to ignore. If someone like Janssen or King, were he not a waste of space, had done what Ott did Saturday and the result were flipped I would be decrying them for not playing within the rules (the knee-on-knee is always frowned upon in my world), but at the same time I would be thrilled that the Blues got two points because of it.

Ott is dirty, but he’s not the first. He won’t be the last. And, this won’t be the last time a group of fans has this debate about Steve Ott.

when a player goes as far as a Steve Ott (or, lest we forget, Tyson Nash) goes, they’ll always get under the other team’s skin and rightfully so. It’s a stragedy to the game, just like The Trap – you can debate the ligitimacy of either stragedy, but the bottom line is the only way to get people to stop it is to expose it. Don’t give in to the urge to retailiate physically against a Steve Ott, and prove it’s useless by putting the rubber in the net.

All that said, if I saw Steve Ott walking in a cross walk in front of my car, I’d hit the gas harder than if I saw Rod Blagoivich.

is a grade A arse. If you’re going to dish it out you should be prepared to take it. The fact that he disappears when Cam goes on ice says it all.

However – as I said previously, I’m all for the Blues hitting THEIR star players hard. Not illegally…just HARD and brutal. Send the message – if he does that to us…we do it to them.

cos ott, marchment, tyson nash are the enevitable result of the insitgator rule. period.

so its a rough game don’t cover it.

more like its a pr move and dirty play is better than brawls in buttman’s eyes

let ott get his butt handed too him 5 times that game, instead of zero, and he thinks about it.

Ott has a hearing scheduled with the league tomorrow.

Suspension please – they need to send a message about that knee to knee.

he does get under teams skin but doesnt really give them an advantage

he is a dirty player but not always it doesnt seem like

it is a rough game but things only get that bad when officials let them

and this will always be a part of the game

he still deserves a suspension and he better get fucked up in november when we play them again

That’s hard. I need an “all of the above” option, because they’re all true: He is a dirty tool, he does help his team this way, his kind will always be part of things, but he’d be less effective if the refs didn’t dick his victims with an inexplicable collection of calls teams didn’t let it get to them.

he’s pretty much sean avery.we might not like it but he does his job well.that doesnt mean i dont want to punch his face in which i do

But speaking from my own experience I chose option #1.

I chose this because that was my specific role on the soccer team. It was my job to DECIMATE the other teams forwards and midfielders. Now, I was never considered a dirty player, I never actually wanted to injure anyone… I just wanted to stop them from advancing down the field, and I accomplished this by hip and body checks, and sometimes a slide tackle or too. I got to stay on the team because I was GOOD at it. Just like Ott is good at his role. Although many people don’t like this kind these kinds of players, they are necessary for almost every team.

I have made dirty plays, but all were accidental (except for that one time where I almost curb stomped a girl… but you know…) Not knowing Ott as a player, I see this as an accidently play. Although it doesn’t look accidental, it very well could be. And I say this because I have ruined people’s careers on plays that look purposeful but were actually completely accidental. I went in for a slide tackle, a little too late, and completely destroyed this girl’s ankle and she could never play again.

That being said, I believe that it is Ott’s role on his team to be physical. When a player is placed in that role it usually means that they are less than graceful, and therefore more prone to making reckless plays.

Here’s my take from yesterday: http://www.defendingbigd.com/2009/10/25/1099802/the-neutral-zone-the-fine-line

Here’s the deal: Steve Ott is a player that walks a fine line and Stars fans get pissed off when he blatantly crosses the line. He has these games every now and then where tries to become the biggest a*hole on the planet, and he goes too far trying to make a statement hit.

But he’s not like that every night.

Stars fans want him to become the player he was last season after he returned from his injury. On a nightly basis he made big CLEAN hits, injected this team with energy and attitude and made big things happen on the scoreboard.

Steve Ott possesses some offensive talent that many don’t believe he has, but it’s there. Stars fans want him to be that type of player every single night, and not this player that shows up every now and then and causes this type of controversy. His ‘reputation’ makes these incidents much worse than they should be.

I also want to say that I believe Ott deserves punishment for his hit on Crombeen. That’s inexcusable, and I want him to STOP making these sort of brainless hits that do nothing but hurt this team.

But I cannot accept the opinion that Ott is an everyday dirty player who is a ‘disgrace’ to the game of hockey, because he’s not. I’ve seen the potential Ott has at becoming an impact player and not just an agitator, and THAT is the player I want him to be because I KNOW he can be.

As a Stars fan, I will say this: Steve Ott can toe the line at times.

I’m more appalled that he had two questionable hits than the results of the actual hits themselves. Because let’s be honest. Neither was particularly damaging. A damaging hit was the Scuderi one that could have broken Jason Chimera’s neck. If Ott gets suspended, it’ll be for reputation more than anthing else.

I like the way that Otter plays. He’s a force, and he’s pretty talented when he’s not doing reckless, stupid things like he did on Saturday. I’ll admit that he’s a bit evil, but it’s in a good way. At least, most Stars fans like it.

Don’t be worried about whether or not he’ll be suspended, because he probably will. Last season he got suspended for an eye gouge that was a very questionable call. Ott has a reputation, and sadly, that can be a decision-maker in these cases.

are there stars fans on this message board.. how bout you all go back to your own damn page.. honestly we dont give a shit what you guys think.. were gonna have our opinion and were not really gonna listen to anything you have to say

they covet what they have not then just steal it. pretty sure they wont steal this blog, but whatever blog they do have must suck ott’s dick and they dont wanna watch that at the moment

If he got called for the shit he does. He had a semi questionable hit on cola then charges our rookie and we get 4 minutes for it. He got fucking rewarded for his cockfaggery. If the refs got the call right on uninut or we were able to retaliate(someone said cam tried to have a go with him and ott skated off the ice, so cam facewashed woywit) then I don’t think he would have tried to take Crombeens knee out. Letting this bullshit go on without punishment leads to more of it.

If after the cola/petro thing we get a 4 minute PP instead or cam rearranges his inbred face I wouldn’t be as upset about it but he pulls cheap bullshit and gets rewarded for it.

Can’t we all just be friends here?

Red Wings suck. Does that help?

Bobby Plager had his career cut short but a dirty cheapshot to the knee. That shit shouldn’t be tolerated. Otter turtling afterward with Bean shows just what a punk he is.

I know I’m one of your favorite turds but come on. The low bridge hit and not the knee to knee?

Although the correct answer REALLY is . . . “I can now understand why Ott spent half the ‘08-’09 on the shelf. Someone probably ran him, and Ott probably deserved it.”

I’d make a terrible umpire, but . . . I calls ’em as I sees ’em.

Anyway, I’d like to be done with this guy soon. It’s possible Colin Campbell can exacerbate that tomorrow morning.

He was playing like a lunatic in Dallas and got waived for something stupid. The Rangers pick him up. He plays that crazy once and they bench him for ONE game. Since then he’s still a great pest who annoys the crap out of the other team but the “dirty” part of his game seems to have gone by the wayside. The coaching team in Dallas needs to show that this kind of stuff isn’t acceptable.