This game was back in 2007. This was near the end of the "ruthless NHL era", when the NHL was trying to brand itself as the hard-hitting, brutal sport of hockey. So this type of stuff was accepted, and even quietly encouraged.
Now in the past couple years the NHL has cracked down significantly on player safety. This type of thing would probably lead to a suspension if it had happened during the current season. Players are getting suspended for a lot less right now.
One thing that the league looks at is whether the headshot was avoidable and predictable. This is a weird shot, because the forward was looking at the goalie, which means that its both avoidable and predictable (meaning the player could expect to be hit and should prepare for it). But because it was a goalie coming at him, the player probably never expected that the goalie would actually make contact with him. This makes it far less predictable, and therefore less avoidable.
Usually the goalies come up really far during these types of breakaways to create more favorable angles to protect the net. The player was most likely expecting the goalie to stop at some point and start backing up, and he was probably waiting for that to happen so he could deke (move around the goalie while he's immobilized from stopping) and get an easy open net score. So they essentially played a game of chicken, but the goalie never disengaged. This is very unexpected. To me the goalie should be suspended for this. Virtually no forward in the league would have expected the goalie to do that and the way the goalie hit him, it was clear that it could have been dangerous.
Now in the past couple years the NHL has cracked down significantly on player safety. This type of thing would probably lead to a suspension if it had happened during the current season. Players are getting suspended for a lot less right now.
One thing that the league looks at is whether the headshot was avoidable and predictable. This is a weird shot, because the forward was looking at the goalie, which means that its both avoidable and predictable (meaning the player could expect to be hit and should prepare for it). But because it was a goalie coming at him, the player probably never expected that the goalie would actually make contact with him. This makes it far less predictable, and therefore less avoidable.
Usually the goalies come up really far during these types of breakaways to create more favorable angles to protect the net. The player was most likely expecting the goalie to stop at some point and start backing up, and he was probably waiting for that to happen so he could deke (move around the goalie while he's immobilized from stopping) and get an easy open net score. So they essentially played a game of chicken, but the goalie never disengaged. This is very unexpected. To me the goalie should be suspended for this. Virtually no forward in the league would have expected the goalie to do that and the way the goalie hit him, it was clear that it could have been dangerous.