Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice, not wanting to be fined, said he was too cheap to say how he really feels about the two-game suspension the NHL handed defenceman Jacob Trouba.
“We’ll accept the decision while we disagree,” Maurice said. “I drive a 2011 Yukon. I bought it used because I’m cheap. Frugal. My cheapness outweighs my disappointment.”
Heads were shaking inside the Jets dressing room because the shoulder-to-head hit Trouba delivered to Ottawa’s Mark Stone seemed a lot like the one from Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin that Jets winger Blake Wheeler was on the receiving end of.
Malkin was not suspended.
“I think we feel they got it half right,” Wheeler said. “I think Trouba’s hit was one of those the league is trying to get out of the game. He stepped up, and he’s a physical player, and it was an unfortunate hit. It’s part of the game. You don’t want anyone to get hurt. You feel bad when a guy goes down.”
Trouba’s two-game suspension is increasingly the norm for an illegal check to the head under Stephane Quintal, who replaced Brendan Shanahan as the league’s chief sheriff in April 2014.
In Shanahan’s last year running the department, 12 players were suspended a total of 48 games, the fewest being two games, the highest being 10.
So far this year, four players have been suspended a total of nine games — three at two apiece, one at three.
NHL spokesman John Dellapina said the NHL’s department of player safety is not being more lenient these days. He said credit belongs to the players who have adapted to the league’s new reality.
“Players are learning and aren’t doing as many things that merit longer suspensions,” he said.
Wheeler said the league’s decision not to suspend Malkin leaves “a lot of grey area” in the minds of players. Wheeler was never in control of the puck when he was hit.
“You like to see the guy at least get a phone call,” Wheeler said. “You’re not in control of the puck. He leaves his feet. Hits you in the head. Malkin is a pretty good hockey player. He knows who has the puck. His instincts are pretty good.
“I never had the puck. Never even saw him coming. All I felt was my head snap back. It’s pretty sore. It hasn’t felt great. It makes you wonder if you sit out a couple of games, then does he get a phone call? It leaves a lot of room for interpretation.”
Trouba will forfeit $33,333.34, with the money going to the players’ emergency assistance fund.
The NHL’s department of player safety said in its explanation video that Trouba failed to “deliver a full body hit through his opponent’s core. Instead, Trouba takes a poor angle of approach, picking Stone’s head and making it the main point of contact.”
The league told the Winnipeg Sun that Malkin, who received an interference penalty for his hit on Wheeler, was not suspended because he made contact with the body before making contact with the head.
Wheeler hoped it wasn’t because Malkin was a superstar.
“You don’t want to go there,” Wheeler said. “I know guys say it all the time, that it depends on who it is. You hope that’s not the case.
“You can live with your guy getting two games, as long as it’s consistent throughout. I know they have a lot of hits to look at every single night. You like to feel protected out there. With what’s transpired the last week, it raises a few questions.”
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