So anything that involves the stick as a weapon or that puts the health of an official in question, the NHL has under control. Everything else? Well…
For the first time in a long time, the Department of Player Safety (DOPS) delivered a reasonable verdict, suspending Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist for six games after his brutal stick to the face of Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon on Sunday.
Yes, it could have been more. But Nyquist hardly has a malevolent track record, and with his seemingly honest explanation that he was trying to get his stick around to cross-check Spurgeon in retaliation rather than jam his blade into his face — not as if that’s such a good thing — it seems to be at least close to a fair ruling. It was the same number of games Duncan Keith got for his whack to another Minnesota player, Charlie Coyle, at the end of last season — and that also included on playoff game. So at least the inept DOPS is consistent.
Maybe eight or 10 games would’ve made it clear that no matter the intention, a stick to the face like that can’t happen. I don’t know why 10-game suspensions are so rare. But in this backwards world where headshots go almost unrecognized — forget severely punished — we’ll take it. (The Flames’ Alex Chiasson got a five-minute major and a game misconduct for a spear to Nick Cousins’ stomach, but no suspension? Well, moving on.)
The second thing the league got relatively correct — and it wasn’t in the realm of player safety, thank goodness — was suspending Ducks forward Antoine Vermette for 10 games for his abuse to linesman Shandor Alphonso.
While the players accept the risk that they can get hurt by the foolishness of other players, the officials should not be subject to that same idea. And they’re not. You can’t slash an official at any time, and if you’re going to, shouldn’t it be for something far more substantial than losing a face-off? There is a history here, as well.
So for the time being, the league has gotten a couple things right. Don’t hold your breath it’s going to continue.
Two phenomenal feats this week: 29-year-old Sidney Crosby became the 11th-youngest player in league history to reach 1,000 career points. He may be battling 20-year-old Connor McDavid for the Art Ross Trophy this season, but McDavid has a long way to go to catch Sid’s career accomplishments.
And then Jaromir Jagr celebrated his 1,900th career point, and soon thereafter, his 45th birthday. What a treasure he is to this league. Though he’s still well short of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time points lead of 2,857 — a number that never will be approached, forget surpassed — he’s separating himself for second all-time.
The Oilers-Flyers feud continued Thursday and then likely came to an end as Philly defenseman Brandon Manning finally got into a fight after being antagonized for two straight games, challenging the way-bigger Patrick Maroon. Manning brought this on himself when he broke McDavid’s collarbone last season, and then somewhat gloated about it earlier this season — which prompted McDavid to call him “classless.” No Oiler did anything when the two teams met in Philadelphia on Dec. 8, but Maroon found the courage in front of his home fans, which was nice, I guess.
Everyone hopes this is over, and all the players said the right things about respect for one another. But it’s kind of sad to see it go. The more personality out of McDavid, the better.
In all the hubbub during a season, it’s nice to see Blues goalie Jake Allen take some time out for a fan. The Blues received a letter for their netminder from a 5-year-old kid who said Allen was his favorite player and said he hoped Allen would turn around his awful season. The young fan was then invited to the rink, Allen signed a stick for him — and promptly turned his season around. (It helped that coach Ken Hitchcock was fired to light a spark under the dormant St. Louis franchise, as well.)
Mason's letter of encouragement to @34jallen worked and today, he got to meet his favorite player in person! #stlblues pic.twitter.com/NQ2gYxSPmR
— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) February 13, 2017
. . . to the Canadiens. In what other league can a coach be fired, then hired two weeks later by that team’s fiercest rival, which also happened to be in first place? Well, that’s what happened when the Bruins let Claude Julien go and he was picked up by the Habs, who dumped Michel Therrien after four-plus relatively successful years behind the Montreal bench.
Should be interesting to see where Julien takes the Canadiens in the postseason. The rest of the regular season is just a dress rehearsal. Honestly, could a good beer-league team make the playoffs in the Atlantic Division?
Funny how videos go viral, as did this bit from referee Wes McCauley when he put Andrew Shaw and Torey Krug in the box for fighting. This type of showmanship from referees happens more often than people realize. Guess it’s just never quite caught on camera like this.
Five minutes each for FIGHTING! pic.twitter.com/suBQpnfCM4
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) February 13, 2017
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