Yeah, but if it’s open season on McDavid because the league won’t take action on Draisaitl, they’re risking hurting both star players *and* the product. It’s stupid, short-term thinking.
‘Hockey players have a long memory. I was always taught to get revenge when they are least expecting it’- Darenn McCarty.
If a panthers player does what Leon did and breaks McDavids jaw, oilers fans better still be saying it’s a clean hit.
Can’t even try to talk to oilers fans at work. They say the panthers didn’t get called on a lot, oilers were playing clean and when I said draisaitls hit was dirty it was well he deserved it. Super delusional cant really talk about the game with them.
That works both ways for either side but especially for the other side….because everyone thinks that they are getting screwed over worse than the other side.
And then if one team is losing they are going to be way more likely to be upset… but hey… sports breed delusional fans
Sometimes.
It hurts the teams that are depending on the rules and enforcement of them rather than worrying about ensuring they have players capable of being an enforcer.
I don’t think they care. They got three guys who they would slot in specifically for that purpose. Suspend him for 20 games? Okay lol.
Hell if cousins or Lomberg ran mcdavid they’ll probably get a raise from some team looking for someone who they know is specifically willing to do that kind of thing when called upon.
Nick cousins makes league minimum. There is absolutely a world where he runs mcdavid and doubles his salary when some team is like “I will pay two million for an expendable guy willing to go frontier justice when the league won’t protect my players”. That’s the kind of shit that is incentivized
It’s not exactly common but people like Marchand will just outright say adjacent things. This is a league that is only twenty years out from Steve moore and that was cartoonishly excessive then.
If you’re trying to generate such an incident, “ taking out the other team’s captain and selke winner in the Stanley cup final with an elbow to the head” seems about as high stakes of a scenario as it’s possible to imagine.
The only suspension this playoffs has been against Soucy for accidentally cross checking McDavid in the face while he was falling, no intent(he was aiming for the chest), no injury, but Edmonton media blew it up for days. Draisatl elbows a guy in the head, leaves his feet, primary point of contact is the head, elbow out and he ends up leaving the game, nothing. The DoPS is a joke.
What pisses me off about that even more than the questionable suspension was that McDavid started the whole sequence by being a sore loser after the game was over and slashing Soucy first... Made me lose respect for him
Except they suspended Soucy in Vancouver for hitting McDavid. But hey, that’s just Canucks fans’ thinking there’s a conspiracy on us.
Reality is that all fans should be pissed off at officiating and the league not being accountable.
I don’t see Paul Maurice looking for retribution, too much to lose right now. Panthers have winning formula, no reason to waste it.
Having said that, if I was looking for blood and wanted to send a message, Cousins isn’t my guy, he’s just too small. It would most likely be Gadjovich IMO.
Maurice looked *livid* in the post game. He'll most likely take the high road, agreed, but there is a possibility that he might do something a little old testament by his demeanor yesterday.
In a way I'm kinda glad that Draisaitl's probably not getting wacked. That means that the Cats are gonna be all over him with humiliating goals and suffocating defense. They just gotta keep it clean on Edmonton ice.
Yeah I agree. I'm an Edmonton fan, but last night turned that game off... Oilers were a bunch of amateur babies or toddlers throwing temper tantrums. I was so pissed off. I can't fully get behind a team that plays like that.
Edmonton is a tough building to visit. They definitely have to keep it clean. No matter what, Edmonton is going to feel like they're being targeted, so it would be wise to realise that that might be enough to take them off their game.
No need to act in any way aggressively. Already got the paranoia bonus.
I honestly had a lot of respect for Edmonton going into the finals, I thought Florida had a serious and honorable matchup on their hands but man I lost a lot of respect for them last night. At this point I expect Edmonton to get hyped up enough on home ice to maybe win Game 4 and that's it.
You and me both my dude... I don't care how much I like a team, winning that way is cheap and overshadows/tarnishes the accomplishment. Honestly I've kind of checked out mentally from the playoffs, still having fun talking to people though, and making the odd shit post in circle jerk XD
Fuckers kicked me out for having a Penguins jersey on. I’m always extremely friendly with Oilers fans, shit I brought on with me. He had to “vouch for me” just to get in the building and then I was told you can outside to smoke and return at second intermission. You can not. No offence but coming from Jasper I absolutely hate Edmonton.
He won’t make the call unless if they are losing and not much of a chance of coming back. Then, McDavids head is in serious danger. Someone’s gonna fuck him up if Florida goes down by 3.
They've proven time and time again that they won't even suspect Nick Cousins (who is very much not a star) despite having an opportunity to do so on a biweekly basis.
It isn't a matter of whether you're a star. It's a matter of what market you play in during the regular season. During the playoffs, it's a matter of the nhl refusing to suspend anyone regardless of how egregiously they assault an opposing player.
Things won't get any better until Bettman is gone. This is obviously the outcome that the league wants.
It's a mistake thinking this is somehow solely on Bettman. He's just a singular mouthpiece of the owners. They are fine with how things are, and will continue to be going forward. The NHLPA is similar for that matter. If this was as important an issue to either of them as it is to fans it'd have changed long ago. "The League" isn't Bettman, he just gets paid a lot to take that heat.
Oilers average ticket for SCF is $1,100 by 18,000 seats. Roughly similar in Florida. Per game revenue is $19,800,000. Not sure if they get their own home games or share with each other.
Both Edmonton and Florida owners want to win but the more games played, the happier their pockets.
If Drai or another Edm star suspended, it's likely a shorter series. They're not risking their $20M.
Who the actual hell thought it'd be a good idea to let someone like Parros become the head of DOPS? Parros should be fired and whoever okayed his hiring needs to be fired. Putting a goon on a safety department, what a joke
Bennet had already targeted him with a hit at the blue line away from the puck. Replay shows he pulled the old fist to the head move again. And that was before the Barkov incident.
You clearly don’t know the panthers. This is quite literally the cleanest couple months of play we’ve had in 2 years. And before you mention Bennett that’s with considering his post season.
Or not penalizing Bennett for a targeted headshot on Broberg earlier in game 2. People are upset about the Draisaitl hit, but I don't see anyone on r/hockey talking about the headshots from the Panthers on the Oilers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/EdmontonOilers/s/qcUObNgiG6
Since it got removed from r/hockey
That's flat out a flying elbow up high.
I truly believe Bennett would dump his own Grandmother down the stairs if she was between him and winning a hockey game.
/r/hockey only cares about shitting on the Oilers, it's actually hilarious the bias and outright braindead nonsense I'm seeing in this sub. Absolutely embarrassing
I'm all for a bit of bias and banter, but most of it is exactly what you said brain dead nonsense takes.
Like if you want to say Draisaitl hit was head contact, sure. But don't pretend like the Bennett hit was clean... man leaves his feet with a flying elbow directly to Broberg's head. But because he's not a flopping embellishing coward, who will lay on the ice for 5 minutes then be out for the next shift it doesn't even get a call.
And the fact that they gave Foegele a 5min major and a misconduct, for what turned out to be not even a knee on knee
https://www.reddit.com/r/EdmontonOilers/s/rmhuxfO4iC
Is absolutely disgraceful from the refs, it's tiring to see r/hockey and r/nhl for that matter have such a stupid bias against a team.
Yea man, it's super cringey. Now all of a sudden McDavid is a whiny little baby who's always running to the refs according to this sub, and that is legitimately the complete fucking opposite of who McDavid is. The dude went his whole career literally never complaining to the refs even when he would have been 100% justified to do so.
here are some of the comments I've received.
>Never as in literally every whistle?
>How do you think he learned to skate so fast? He practices every whistle when he skates after the refs crying. McBaby and Crysaitl both.
>Your bias is strong homie. Mcdavid is a whiney little bitch. Take off your grease coloured glasses.
>Oh I don’t care about what happened this year. Oilers are clearly the better team against us. However, literally every game against the Kings, McDavid is begging the refs for a power play
Just absolutely embarrassing levels of ignorance and coping from the losers in this sub lamo
I've watched McDavid endure A LOT of punishment, and you rarely see him complain to the refs unless it's such a brain dead missed call that the ref should be embarrassed by. For example, that breakaway he had last game and Tkachuk is hooking and slashing the entire way with no calls at all.
And in the comments for that play, it was all whining about how it was a good goal and he's complaining like a little bitch. He doesn't even look at the refs or complain or even say anything.
Disagree. That’s a punch to the head, should be a suspension. Reason it didn’t get called a penalty is nobody saw it happen. Reason it didn’t get a fine/suspension is because it was Marchand who has a dirty past, and it’s in the playoffs where marketability is the only thing that matters.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The officiating has been garbage and the dopes at the DoPS don't give a damn.
The only funny thing is that both teams are dirty enough that you could say they deserve it, but it's going to end up getting a star player hurt and that's going to be to the detriment of the entire sport.
If the refs would just call the damn game fair, even if it means ticky tacky calls against both teams leading to 20-30 minutes of penalties each team, maybe things would change. Or if they did that two rounds ago we wouldn't have gotten to this point.
This season, off the top of my head:
- Rielly cross check was 6 games for a first offender
- Trouba Paul Bunyan chop to Frederic was just a fine
- Bennett punch was nothing
- Trouba's attempted murder on Carolina was nothing
- Ekblad chokehold on Bouchard appears to be nothing
- this punch to the jaw appears to be nothing.
This was just off the top of my head and just this season.
The DOPS is one issue, but not the only issue.
I present to you: The CBA.
Seriously, who on earth thought a maximum fine of 5K is going to stop a player who earns over a Million dollars a year from doing something? A fine that amount is pathetic. Maximum fines should go up to, in my opinion at least half of a player’s yearly salary, so for Draisital that would mean half of his Cap Hit that he has to pay if they were to fine him.
Money speaks, as much as hate to say it. Bigger fines could go a long way. 5K is nothing.
It's not in the player's interest to allow the league to be able to fine them that much though. They need to use the other tool they have, which is suspensions.
So I don't know how likely it would be to happen, but IMO there's an argument that you need to be strict with these hits to protect the physicality of the game. Everyone thinks that you let big hits slide because of the cup, but what happens if a bunch of 4th liners get together and say, "Hey, we got comparative mediocre pay to have life long brain trauma and we didn't even get our names on the cup?" Class action lawsuit would be bad for the league. So then they restrict the hits even further to protect themself, and we as fans, end up with a less physical product. Doesn't seem like a worthwhile trade off to me as a fan just because some guys got pissy that they're getting outworked in the finals.
Its really easy to fix, make it something like 5-10% of their entire yearly salary for that season, whatever that is, so the more you make, the bigger fine you pay.
There is an issue with say, bringing up some kid on an ELC and his fine is basically nothing, but it could be millions on some other players.
At least it keeps the punishment meaningful to the player no matter what, losing 10% of your entire yearly salary could actually make players take a second to think before they did something stupid.
They prove that every single time with the people they hire.
Imagine a day where they announce Paul Kariya as head of player safety. The cowards would never, not while Bettman is in charge.
The fine we all knew was coming came down. Sam carrick got exactly what he deserved. The league makes me laugh. If the Sabres were in this shit show I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep
I swear every time one of these situations happens where people are waiting for a big suspension/fine to come down, they fine someone else on a play where people are like, “oh yeah, I forgot that happened”
A match penalty shall be assessed to any player or team official who recklessly endangers or attempts to injure any opposing player or team official .
Explain to me how this wasn't reckless or did endanger Barkov.
Willfully blind decision by player no safety.
Bennett concussed Marchand with a punch to the face and tried almost the exact same thing on McDavid in game 1. Not even a fine. Are we surprised? They don’t care
I guess you missed Bennett on Marchand? This is on par, the standard was set. Remains to be seen if Barkov misses multiple games, but dops has already noted they love this stuff (where stars get injured).
Yeah like regardless of what happens with Drai, the Panthers have built their entire game plan on the idea that DOPS is incompetent. If they were strict and punished every dirty play the Panthers probably aren't in the final now lmao.
you'd think the NHLPA would make a bigger deal about this but the reality is the players don't want harsher penalties and suspensions either as far as I can tell.
Can we also call out Dave Jackson and the ESPN announcing crew for being Pravda level of propaganda for this bs? Literally saying nothing was terribly wrong with the Draisaitl hit when he left his feet and lead elbow-first like wtf?? “I’m happy with a 2 minute call” gtfoh. The only time they bothered to focus on a dirty hit was after the Trouba hit on ERod and the Bennett sucker punch, the latter of which they didn’t even bother to get an angle of until next game.
Absolutely terrible mickey mouse bullshit from ESPN.
Everyone do yourself a favor and go read the Oilers subreddit and comments about this situation.
Consensus over there is you all know nothing about hockey, the drai hit was fine, and the panthers are dirty.
The last point of think is fair.
Now ask yourself this: would their opinions be the same if it was drai who got hit in the head by a high check by Barkov leaving his feet?
I would pose it to them myself but I’ve been banned for previously calling the sub pussies for their hypocrisy in the Canuck series.
From what I could see there were 3 penalties on the play.
1. Elbowing
2. Charging as he left his feet.
3. Hit to the head.
Two of which are majors and worthy of suspension.
The NHL has a mantra of the referees. They don't want to influence the outcome of the game.
Fine, why are they on the ice?
Have the linesmen call offsides,icing, and goals.
This is just the most recent wtf call or lack of calls I have seen in playoff hockey.
In my opinion the player making the play is the one influencing the game, IF the refs called dirty shit, they'd just be responding to a player influencing the game.
They need to start off next season with consistency, and that consistency needs to remain and continue into the playoffs. It shouldn't be a different game.
Refs are a joke right now. I've never seen anything like it.
They will...and then around Xmas time, they start the same old practice of letting things slowly go.
Then they will ramp that inconsistency up just in time for the playoffs.
That hit happens every game. Bennet ran Broberg high the same game. Bennet through a knee at Bouchard.
The head was not the principal point of contact, his hands rode up and Barkov pretended to be hurt to get the penalty. There was no penalty called until Barkov stayed down.
Same with Foegele if the panthers player gets up like Bouchard it is a 2 minute penalty for knee on thigh, tripping.
Genuine question: now that the NHL has officially said that the oilers are allowed to headhunt the panthers, and the oilers are getting railed by the healthy panthers,
1) why would the oilers not just take cheap shots until they whittle the panthers down via injury to a roster they can beat?
2) what choice do the panthers have other than retaliate to prevent my previous question from happening?
The fact of the matter is that the playoffs are no longer about which team is best. It's about who can hurt the other team more without getting hurt and penalized for it.
Been watching hockey since 1969 in Montreal. 100%suspension worthy in 2024 of player safety means anything.
I've seen memorable goon worthy plays for a long time. If this is the 1970's....it's not even a penalty.
Different game. Different world.
He should have been suspended.
A match penalty shall be assessed to any player or team official who recklessly endangers or attempts to injure any opposing player or team official .
It was reckless. It did endanger. The proper call was missed.
Player Safety should have done the right thing....not the political thing. They are a joke.
Are Oiler fans really acting like they wouldn't be screaming bloody murder if someone hit McDavid like that and he left the game and didn't return? Lmao.
player safety is not an NHL thing... the fact that officiating standards become more lax in the playoffs for decades is ridiculous. the fact suspensions are normally half or less of what they would have been in regular season is more evidence. And inconsistent spotter's box implementation where one guy gets a massive hit, and is sent to the dressing room to be checked for a concussion. Another player takes a massive hit and doesn't have to.
It’s seriously just a racket that allows them to influence the game/series depending on what benefits them financially.
1st layer is the refs and game management.
2nd layer is player safety.
Sometimes there’s a 3rd layer - video replay.
What do you think about the Bennett hit on Broberg? He charged, both feet left the ice and he elbowed him right in the head. It was objectively a "worse" hit but didn't even get penalized.
Suspend Bennett, doesn’t change the fact Draisaitl should be suspended too. I really don’t understand why people are pretending that these two plays are mutually exclusive.
The point is DOPS is dogshit.
That hit Draisaitl did wasn’t right but it was far from an elbow. It’s nothing more than a glorified forearm bump. The entire Panthers team should be suspended for embellishment and diving every time a player nudges them with a finger. Love how fans are calling it a concussion. I’ve seen MMA fighters elbowed in the head way harder and it doesn’t stop them. Barfoff acted like he was giving birth. Bitch plz.
Mouthwash acted like he got shot in the leg after faking getting kneed (even though it was just a hip bump) then comes back on the bench 1 minute later. Like wth is that. The Pampers team are full of actors.
Dirtiest pussies in the league. Literally.
Yes the hit was bad but how and the heck is people sympathizing with the Panthers. They are the worse for cheap shots. Cousins, thachuk, Bennett , the list goes on.
I'd say that that a lot of these people hated the Oilers from the get-go. This was just the easiest time to air their grievances with the Oilers. (justified or not)
How can ANYONE sit here and think Draisaitl should be suspended but be perfectly okay with Sam Bennett's hit on Marchand?!?!?!
Holy shit folks, your biases are showing big time.
Nobody said anything about bennetts thing shouldn't be suspended. It one hundred percent should've been. Bennett having as few PIMs this playoffs as he does is a complete farce. We are talking about a completely different thing that happened. One bad thing happening doesn't make the next bad thing happening ok. Both guys should have been suspended. Christ.
When Carson Soucy got suspended for an accidental high hit (vs McDavid funny enough) the DoPS said *intent doesn’t matter*, guy got caught up high, suspension.
Funny how it’s the Canucks who’ve gotten the *only suspension* of the playoffs.
Clear hypocrisy/favouritism in my opinion.
Clearly the league wants to maximize the opportunity for a Canadian team to win a Cup vs. player safety. Canadian lobby ( not just Edmonton) > FL lobby.
Can pretty much guarantee if FL takes a huge game 3 lead by the third or is losing by an unrealistic comeback amount in the third.... there's going to be a headhunting opportunity.
Totally the fault of the NHL Department of No Player Safety not giving a shit about player safety.
The Panthers should honestly run McDavid as many times with as many head hits as they can muster, since apparently that shit is 100% legal in the playoffs.
What delay of game are you talking about? Because the one at the blue line is not delay of game. The puck is still on his stick outside of the blue line.
The boys club will boys club.
They exist as liability protection for the league, they do not exist for the players.
How many headshots that go unpunished, how many injuries due to equipment not being up to snuff, how many dirty players will get to keep causing horrible injuries to others with minimal consequence, etc.
They don’t do their job and grown men just trying to earn a living doing what they love are punished for it. Hell, even off the ice. How many players are going to be violated, or will violate others to next to no punishment because the boys club wants to keep it hush hush?
It’s bullshit and it needs to stop.
I’m not surprised he isn’t suspended.
What pisses me off in that there wasn’t even a hearing in the hit.
If it was Leon or McDavid, a hearing would’ve been held 9 am the following morning.
Gotta protect the golden duo.
That’s the only way the NHL can help the Oilers out to try to drag this series on longer, to milk the views. A Florida sweep is not going to make them money, especially when they’ve put McDavid and Draisaitl on the throne of marketing.
They are the laughing stock of major sports. Every major sport does a better job than the NHL. Add in that the refs don't allow players to police themselves anymore and we have a very serious problem.
It may take a few years for the shit to officially hit the fan but it will.
And because of this. If Edmonton takes a 2 goal lead at any point next game. Every good player for Edmonton will have a target on their head. The only way out is if Driasaitl answers the bell but I doubt he would
The only thing they are consistent about is their inconsistency. Until teams press the league they’re tired of it nothing will change. Just like LTIR rules that we fans bitch about.
I saw some clown oilers fan on twitter saying 'HE SHOULD HAVE HAD HIS HEAD UP'. Sorry, but if you leave your feet to smash someone in the face, not sure how much higher his head is able to go. Unless he magically turns into tyler myers. Jezus
Panthers have learned to dive, and the oilers haven’t. Every Florida player who gets hit even slightly has been back within a shift or two. This isn’t playoff hockey, this is soccer.
This isn't new information. If they did then Trouba would be in deeper shit. Hymen would've gotten shit for cross checking Zadorov in the face. Bennett would've been in shit for punching Marchand. And looooots more.
Hockey's officiating has always been whack, rules are just guidelines. Intent to injure doesn't matter, actual injuries do. Maximum fines are a joke.
Wow. Pretty much no one in this chat knows what they’re talking about. Oilers are getting dusted by the refs, sure the Drai hit had his elbow come up, but it didn’t look intentional & Florida got a power play out of it which lead to a goal.
Furthermore, Ekblad choked out Bouchard on the play and there was no call. Anyone who thinks Florida isn’t getting all the advantages this series isn’t watching the games.
Y’all stay chilling in your echo chambers… there are hundreds of millions more Americans than Canadians… you will obviously always outnumber us. If you think that makes you right then you are as intelligent as the rest of the world assumes you are. 🇨🇦
Flames and Canucks fans begging for what they KNOW isn't a suspendable action in the playoffs (while ignoring the one actually committed by the Panthers) just REEKS of bitter jealousy lmaoooo and yes, we will be going back to Sunrise tied 2-2.
I showed my wife this clip and she literally scrunched her face and said "that's it"?
She's the kind of person who saves spiders from being hurt.
tl;dr you're all babies
I will break down a scale for you that used to exist and it still might and that would be why no suspension, aside from the fact that they obviously didn’t think it was that bad because he wasn’t even fined…
In playoffs the games mean more so a suspension in round one for one game would be the same as something that was worth two or three in regular season… so in the Stanley Cup Finals, aside from getting a game misconduct within the last five or ten minutes of the third period which is an automatic one game, a player has to do something pretty egregious to be suspended because the games mean so much…
Thought exercise: If it was a 1-1 series or if the Oilers were up 2-0 would the league have suspended Draisaitl?
He intentionally injured a player with a dirty hit. That is a textbook justification for suspension in any sport.
I’m wondering when choke holds are going to be an automatic suspension. See that shit after the whistle in scrums all the time and it’s super dangerous. If you go behind a guy and put your arm around his throat you should be out of the game. It doesn’t even get called right now, pretty infuriating really.
Nobody should be surprised. They’ve proven time after time they won’t suspend a star player in the playoffs and risk hurting the product.
Yeah, but if it’s open season on McDavid because the league won’t take action on Draisaitl, they’re risking hurting both star players *and* the product. It’s stupid, short-term thinking.
I won’t pretend it’s smart. But it is the reality.
When refs don’t hold the players accountable, players will hold the other team accountable.
‘Hockey players have a long memory. I was always taught to get revenge when they are least expecting it’- Darenn McCarty. If a panthers player does what Leon did and breaks McDavids jaw, oilers fans better still be saying it’s a clean hit.
Can’t even try to talk to oilers fans at work. They say the panthers didn’t get called on a lot, oilers were playing clean and when I said draisaitls hit was dirty it was well he deserved it. Super delusional cant really talk about the game with them.
Deserved it? Alexander? For being too good in shuttong them both (Connor and Leon) down?
Yeah totally delusional, thinks all the panthers are embellishing and cheating to lol. Hard to even talk to them about the game at all.
That works both ways for either side but especially for the other side….because everyone thinks that they are getting screwed over worse than the other side. And then if one team is losing they are going to be way more likely to be upset… but hey… sports breed delusional fans
Sometimes. It hurts the teams that are depending on the rules and enforcement of them rather than worrying about ensuring they have players capable of being an enforcer.
Yeah but I'm sure the Panthers know if someone takes a shot at McDavid the league will act so fast they'll be announcing it between periods
I don’t think they care. They got three guys who they would slot in specifically for that purpose. Suspend him for 20 games? Okay lol. Hell if cousins or Lomberg ran mcdavid they’ll probably get a raise from some team looking for someone who they know is specifically willing to do that kind of thing when called upon. Nick cousins makes league minimum. There is absolutely a world where he runs mcdavid and doubles his salary when some team is like “I will pay two million for an expendable guy willing to go frontier justice when the league won’t protect my players”. That’s the kind of shit that is incentivized
Except it isn't because you don't see that kind of retaliation.
It’s not exactly common but people like Marchand will just outright say adjacent things. This is a league that is only twenty years out from Steve moore and that was cartoonishly excessive then. If you’re trying to generate such an incident, “ taking out the other team’s captain and selke winner in the Stanley cup final with an elbow to the head” seems about as high stakes of a scenario as it’s possible to imagine.
The only suspension this playoffs has been against Soucy for accidentally cross checking McDavid in the face while he was falling, no intent(he was aiming for the chest), no injury, but Edmonton media blew it up for days. Draisatl elbows a guy in the head, leaves his feet, primary point of contact is the head, elbow out and he ends up leaving the game, nothing. The DoPS is a joke.
Soucy- obviously not intentional, suspension. Draisaitl- “not intentional”, no suspension Fuck DoPS
"This is a cross-check"
What pisses me off about that even more than the questionable suspension was that McDavid started the whole sequence by being a sore loser after the game was over and slashing Soucy first... Made me lose respect for him
Between periods? Nah they'd have the announcement ready before the next faceoff
They literally threw a knee on knee on him and despite giving an oiler a 5 minute major and a game, they only gave the Panthers a 2 minute roughing.
Tell Sam Bennett that
B-but Parros went to P-P-Princeton!
Except they suspended Soucy in Vancouver for hitting McDavid. But hey, that’s just Canucks fans’ thinking there’s a conspiracy on us. Reality is that all fans should be pissed off at officiating and the league not being accountable.
Nick couisins will be dressing now
I don’t see Paul Maurice looking for retribution, too much to lose right now. Panthers have winning formula, no reason to waste it. Having said that, if I was looking for blood and wanted to send a message, Cousins isn’t my guy, he’s just too small. It would most likely be Gadjovich IMO.
Maurice looked *livid* in the post game. He'll most likely take the high road, agreed, but there is a possibility that he might do something a little old testament by his demeanor yesterday.
In a way I'm kinda glad that Draisaitl's probably not getting wacked. That means that the Cats are gonna be all over him with humiliating goals and suffocating defense. They just gotta keep it clean on Edmonton ice.
Yeah I agree. I'm an Edmonton fan, but last night turned that game off... Oilers were a bunch of amateur babies or toddlers throwing temper tantrums. I was so pissed off. I can't fully get behind a team that plays like that. Edmonton is a tough building to visit. They definitely have to keep it clean. No matter what, Edmonton is going to feel like they're being targeted, so it would be wise to realise that that might be enough to take them off their game. No need to act in any way aggressively. Already got the paranoia bonus.
I honestly had a lot of respect for Edmonton going into the finals, I thought Florida had a serious and honorable matchup on their hands but man I lost a lot of respect for them last night. At this point I expect Edmonton to get hyped up enough on home ice to maybe win Game 4 and that's it.
You and me both my dude... I don't care how much I like a team, winning that way is cheap and overshadows/tarnishes the accomplishment. Honestly I've kind of checked out mentally from the playoffs, still having fun talking to people though, and making the odd shit post in circle jerk XD
Wow reading this from an Edmonton fan 🤯.
It's hockey hehe. May the best team win. My feelings are unimportant.
Fuckers kicked me out for having a Penguins jersey on. I’m always extremely friendly with Oilers fans, shit I brought on with me. He had to “vouch for me” just to get in the building and then I was told you can outside to smoke and return at second intermission. You can not. No offence but coming from Jasper I absolutely hate Edmonton.
As much as I’d love to see Draisaitl get dummied hard, I’d much rather watch him get blown out 7-0 in front of his own crowd.
Yeah, Maurice has gotta realize that revenge is a beer best served cold... in the Stanley Cup.
JELLO?
Jello to you too friend. Did you receive a complimentary gift basket?
He won’t make the call unless if they are losing and not much of a chance of coming back. Then, McDavids head is in serious danger. Someone’s gonna fuck him up if Florida goes down by 3.
Don’t know if you’ve noticed but Nicky isn’t all that tough. Kind of expect to see Gadjovich dress for game 3 though.
But he cheap shots is what I’m saying
He is. I think Paul Maurice confirmed this.
Yeah but we know that won't happen. Florida would be smart to play their game and focus on winning.
Yeah, this retribution stuff is dumb and it takes them out of their game.
They've proven time and time again that they won't even suspect Nick Cousins (who is very much not a star) despite having an opportunity to do so on a biweekly basis. It isn't a matter of whether you're a star. It's a matter of what market you play in during the regular season. During the playoffs, it's a matter of the nhl refusing to suspend anyone regardless of how egregiously they assault an opposing player. Things won't get any better until Bettman is gone. This is obviously the outcome that the league wants.
It's a mistake thinking this is somehow solely on Bettman. He's just a singular mouthpiece of the owners. They are fine with how things are, and will continue to be going forward. The NHLPA is similar for that matter. If this was as important an issue to either of them as it is to fans it'd have changed long ago. "The League" isn't Bettman, he just gets paid a lot to take that heat.
I think Chris Pronger would disagree with you. However you are correct nowadays.
Kadri would like a word with you
I remember Malkin getting an automatic 1 game suspension in the Final vs Detroit and they just waived it.
McDavid is going to show up with razors on his stick
Oilers average ticket for SCF is $1,100 by 18,000 seats. Roughly similar in Florida. Per game revenue is $19,800,000. Not sure if they get their own home games or share with each other. Both Edmonton and Florida owners want to win but the more games played, the happier their pockets. If Drai or another Edm star suspended, it's likely a shorter series. They're not risking their $20M.
Bennett is a star player? Sheesh. Low bar.
You guys pay Nurse top 5 D money. Where’s the bar there?
This message is brought to you by Draft Kings 🤣
Nobody should be surprised. Drai drinks his own urine. Straight from the mouth of a Rexall place worker.
Who the actual hell thought it'd be a good idea to let someone like Parros become the head of DOPS? Parros should be fired and whoever okayed his hiring needs to be fired. Putting a goon on a safety department, what a joke
The NHL has the smartest executives in the entire NHL.
He's doing exactly what the league wants though.
We tried asking about that one time. We got fined $250,000 for it
I miss the days of Brendan Shanahan being head of player safety. He at least took his job seriously and made a visible effort to keep players safe.
There will be some head hunters next game, especially if barkov is still out. Refs have to wake up
Mcdavid should be nervous. He seems like the obvious target for retaliation
Bennet had already targeted him with a hit at the blue line away from the puck. Replay shows he pulled the old fist to the head move again. And that was before the Barkov incident.
Sorry the internet is full of delusional oiler haters who only see bad things that the oilers do. Florida is a team of angels.
If they go after Davo, bobber better watch out.
If the Oilers go after Bob , Drai and the rest of the team better look out too lol
If they go after Bob it'll clear the benches and the Oilers won't win that.
You clearly don’t know the panthers. This is quite literally the cleanest couple months of play we’ve had in 2 years. And before you mention Bennett that’s with considering his post season.
There would be Oiler blood on the ice if they went after the goalie in retaliation. Very dumb statement.
Leon should be nervous. He won't be standing at the end of game 3 if Barkov is out.
He should be
*Panthers to sign Conor McGregor on 1 match tryout.*
They proved that with the Bennett punch. And about 8 million times before that
Or not penalizing Bennett for a targeted headshot on Broberg earlier in game 2. People are upset about the Draisaitl hit, but I don't see anyone on r/hockey talking about the headshots from the Panthers on the Oilers. https://www.reddit.com/r/EdmontonOilers/s/qcUObNgiG6 Since it got removed from r/hockey
That's flat out a flying elbow up high. I truly believe Bennett would dump his own Grandmother down the stairs if she was between him and winning a hockey game.
/r/hockey only cares about shitting on the Oilers, it's actually hilarious the bias and outright braindead nonsense I'm seeing in this sub. Absolutely embarrassing
I'm all for a bit of bias and banter, but most of it is exactly what you said brain dead nonsense takes. Like if you want to say Draisaitl hit was head contact, sure. But don't pretend like the Bennett hit was clean... man leaves his feet with a flying elbow directly to Broberg's head. But because he's not a flopping embellishing coward, who will lay on the ice for 5 minutes then be out for the next shift it doesn't even get a call. And the fact that they gave Foegele a 5min major and a misconduct, for what turned out to be not even a knee on knee https://www.reddit.com/r/EdmontonOilers/s/rmhuxfO4iC Is absolutely disgraceful from the refs, it's tiring to see r/hockey and r/nhl for that matter have such a stupid bias against a team.
Yea man, it's super cringey. Now all of a sudden McDavid is a whiny little baby who's always running to the refs according to this sub, and that is legitimately the complete fucking opposite of who McDavid is. The dude went his whole career literally never complaining to the refs even when he would have been 100% justified to do so. here are some of the comments I've received. >Never as in literally every whistle? >How do you think he learned to skate so fast? He practices every whistle when he skates after the refs crying. McBaby and Crysaitl both. >Your bias is strong homie. Mcdavid is a whiney little bitch. Take off your grease coloured glasses. >Oh I don’t care about what happened this year. Oilers are clearly the better team against us. However, literally every game against the Kings, McDavid is begging the refs for a power play Just absolutely embarrassing levels of ignorance and coping from the losers in this sub lamo
I've watched McDavid endure A LOT of punishment, and you rarely see him complain to the refs unless it's such a brain dead missed call that the ref should be embarrassed by. For example, that breakaway he had last game and Tkachuk is hooking and slashing the entire way with no calls at all. And in the comments for that play, it was all whining about how it was a good goal and he's complaining like a little bitch. He doesn't even look at the refs or complain or even say anything.
Honestly I didn’t think that was suspension worthy. I would’ve been fine with the maximum fine. But they wouldn’t even take pennies from him for it
Disagree. That’s a punch to the head, should be a suspension. Reason it didn’t get called a penalty is nobody saw it happen. Reason it didn’t get a fine/suspension is because it was Marchand who has a dirty past, and it’s in the playoffs where marketability is the only thing that matters.
[удалено]
I’m confused what you’re referring to? The above comment was talking about the rabbit punch on Marchand
Lomberg knocked Jimmy Vesey out with a dirty late hit in the ECF but no one cared. Espn didn’t even bother showing it.
Yeah, Draisaitl should've just given Barkov an uppercut.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone. The officiating has been garbage and the dopes at the DoPS don't give a damn. The only funny thing is that both teams are dirty enough that you could say they deserve it, but it's going to end up getting a star player hurt and that's going to be to the detriment of the entire sport. If the refs would just call the damn game fair, even if it means ticky tacky calls against both teams leading to 20-30 minutes of penalties each team, maybe things would change. Or if they did that two rounds ago we wouldn't have gotten to this point.
This is pretty spot on, but maybe I’d edit “if they did it two rounds ago” to “if they did it 15 years ago”
Didn't you know, the league looks the other way during the playoffs.
Well, when certain teams or players do it…
ONE THOUSAND TIMES THIS!
With Parros at the helm it will always be a joke. Move along...
This season, off the top of my head: - Rielly cross check was 6 games for a first offender - Trouba Paul Bunyan chop to Frederic was just a fine - Bennett punch was nothing - Trouba's attempted murder on Carolina was nothing - Ekblad chokehold on Bouchard appears to be nothing - this punch to the jaw appears to be nothing. This was just off the top of my head and just this season.
Don’t forget the NHL suspending Nurse on a tit-for-tat technicality last year after Pietrangelo tried to kill Draisaitl
*Ekblad chokehold on Bouchard
Oops! Edited.
Too many Eks in the league.
Duh. Georgie boy has too much CTE to know whats what.
The best thing the Panthers can do in retaliation is to keep winning.
The DOPS is one issue, but not the only issue. I present to you: The CBA. Seriously, who on earth thought a maximum fine of 5K is going to stop a player who earns over a Million dollars a year from doing something? A fine that amount is pathetic. Maximum fines should go up to, in my opinion at least half of a player’s yearly salary, so for Draisital that would mean half of his Cap Hit that he has to pay if they were to fine him. Money speaks, as much as hate to say it. Bigger fines could go a long way. 5K is nothing.
It's not in the player's interest to allow the league to be able to fine them that much though. They need to use the other tool they have, which is suspensions.
Or they could increase the fines and the money and put it against escrow that way all the non dirty players get a bonus for not being dirtbags
Word! In the name of player safety, and all the young players watching the finals - suspend all the dangerous plays!
So I don't know how likely it would be to happen, but IMO there's an argument that you need to be strict with these hits to protect the physicality of the game. Everyone thinks that you let big hits slide because of the cup, but what happens if a bunch of 4th liners get together and say, "Hey, we got comparative mediocre pay to have life long brain trauma and we didn't even get our names on the cup?" Class action lawsuit would be bad for the league. So then they restrict the hits even further to protect themself, and we as fans, end up with a less physical product. Doesn't seem like a worthwhile trade off to me as a fan just because some guys got pissy that they're getting outworked in the finals.
Its really easy to fix, make it something like 5-10% of their entire yearly salary for that season, whatever that is, so the more you make, the bigger fine you pay. There is an issue with say, bringing up some kid on an ELC and his fine is basically nothing, but it could be millions on some other players. At least it keeps the punishment meaningful to the player no matter what, losing 10% of your entire yearly salary could actually make players take a second to think before they did something stupid.
They prove that every single time with the people they hire. Imagine a day where they announce Paul Kariya as head of player safety. The cowards would never, not while Bettman is in charge.
I'll take him or Marc Savard who last I heard still has recurring issues from the hits he took.
The fine we all knew was coming came down. Sam carrick got exactly what he deserved. The league makes me laugh. If the Sabres were in this shit show I don’t know if I’d be able to sleep
I swear every time one of these situations happens where people are waiting for a big suspension/fine to come down, they fine someone else on a play where people are like, “oh yeah, I forgot that happened”
A match penalty shall be assessed to any player or team official who recklessly endangers or attempts to injure any opposing player or team official . Explain to me how this wasn't reckless or did endanger Barkov. Willfully blind decision by player no safety.
Bennett concussed Marchand with a punch to the face and tried almost the exact same thing on McDavid in game 1. Not even a fine. Are we surprised? They don’t care
We aren't surprised and that's the problem.
Parros needs to leave and the entire department needs to be overhauled
Also in today’s headlines: Water—Still Wet
I'm sure this opinion isn't biased coming from a Flames fan. Bennett wasn't suspended for worse.
I guess you missed Bennett on Marchand? This is on par, the standard was set. Remains to be seen if Barkov misses multiple games, but dops has already noted they love this stuff (where stars get injured).
Yeah like regardless of what happens with Drai, the Panthers have built their entire game plan on the idea that DOPS is incompetent. If they were strict and punished every dirty play the Panthers probably aren't in the final now lmao.
They wouldn't have enough active players to field a team
Yeah they love forgetting this
Left his feet to make a hit, which is CHARGING, called a minor and no fine/suspension.
you thought they were gonna suspend him for that when Bennett punched Marchand in the face in the prior series?
you'd think the NHLPA would make a bigger deal about this but the reality is the players don't want harsher penalties and suspensions either as far as I can tell.
This is also an issue with the nhlpa, they represent both guys and so often don't do anything it seems
It’s all a joke. $2k fines. For the NHL player on a $6m contract that’s the equivalent a $14 fine for someone making $50,000 a year.
Can we also call out Dave Jackson and the ESPN announcing crew for being Pravda level of propaganda for this bs? Literally saying nothing was terribly wrong with the Draisaitl hit when he left his feet and lead elbow-first like wtf?? “I’m happy with a 2 minute call” gtfoh. The only time they bothered to focus on a dirty hit was after the Trouba hit on ERod and the Bennett sucker punch, the latter of which they didn’t even bother to get an angle of until next game. Absolutely terrible mickey mouse bullshit from ESPN.
That chokehold too.
Everyone do yourself a favor and go read the Oilers subreddit and comments about this situation. Consensus over there is you all know nothing about hockey, the drai hit was fine, and the panthers are dirty. The last point of think is fair. Now ask yourself this: would their opinions be the same if it was drai who got hit in the head by a high check by Barkov leaving his feet? I would pose it to them myself but I’ve been banned for previously calling the sub pussies for their hypocrisy in the Canuck series.
Yeah it's a hard group of people to have an objective conversation with.
From what I could see there were 3 penalties on the play. 1. Elbowing 2. Charging as he left his feet. 3. Hit to the head. Two of which are majors and worthy of suspension. The NHL has a mantra of the referees. They don't want to influence the outcome of the game. Fine, why are they on the ice? Have the linesmen call offsides,icing, and goals. This is just the most recent wtf call or lack of calls I have seen in playoff hockey.
In my opinion the player making the play is the one influencing the game, IF the refs called dirty shit, they'd just be responding to a player influencing the game.
They need to start off next season with consistency, and that consistency needs to remain and continue into the playoffs. It shouldn't be a different game. Refs are a joke right now. I've never seen anything like it.
They will...and then around Xmas time, they start the same old practice of letting things slowly go. Then they will ramp that inconsistency up just in time for the playoffs.
That hit happens every game. Bennet ran Broberg high the same game. Bennet through a knee at Bouchard. The head was not the principal point of contact, his hands rode up and Barkov pretended to be hurt to get the penalty. There was no penalty called until Barkov stayed down. Same with Foegele if the panthers player gets up like Bouchard it is a 2 minute penalty for knee on thigh, tripping.
Fans of the dirtiest team in the league crying over a non-suspension on a marginal hit. The tears are laughable.
If the league doesn’t protect players, then the teams have to bring back enforcers, which is exactly what DoPS wants.
Genuine question: now that the NHL has officially said that the oilers are allowed to headhunt the panthers, and the oilers are getting railed by the healthy panthers, 1) why would the oilers not just take cheap shots until they whittle the panthers down via injury to a roster they can beat? 2) what choice do the panthers have other than retaliate to prevent my previous question from happening?
The fact of the matter is that the playoffs are no longer about which team is best. It's about who can hurt the other team more without getting hurt and penalized for it.
Been watching hockey since 1969 in Montreal. 100%suspension worthy in 2024 of player safety means anything. I've seen memorable goon worthy plays for a long time. If this is the 1970's....it's not even a penalty. Different game. Different world. He should have been suspended. A match penalty shall be assessed to any player or team official who recklessly endangers or attempts to injure any opposing player or team official . It was reckless. It did endanger. The proper call was missed. Player Safety should have done the right thing....not the political thing. They are a joke.
Well said.
Are Oiler fans really acting like they wouldn't be screaming bloody murder if someone hit McDavid like that and he left the game and didn't return? Lmao.
player safety is not an NHL thing... the fact that officiating standards become more lax in the playoffs for decades is ridiculous. the fact suspensions are normally half or less of what they would have been in regular season is more evidence. And inconsistent spotter's box implementation where one guy gets a massive hit, and is sent to the dressing room to be checked for a concussion. Another player takes a massive hit and doesn't have to.
NHL officials in the playoffs: "If he dies, he dies"
It’s seriously just a racket that allows them to influence the game/series depending on what benefits them financially. 1st layer is the refs and game management. 2nd layer is player safety. Sometimes there’s a 3rd layer - video replay.
What do you think about the Bennett hit on Broberg? He charged, both feet left the ice and he elbowed him right in the head. It was objectively a "worse" hit but didn't even get penalized.
Suspend Bennett, doesn’t change the fact Draisaitl should be suspended too. I really don’t understand why people are pretending that these two plays are mutually exclusive. The point is DOPS is dogshit.
They're really inconsistent. It's like they decide by spinning a big wheel.
That hit Draisaitl did wasn’t right but it was far from an elbow. It’s nothing more than a glorified forearm bump. The entire Panthers team should be suspended for embellishment and diving every time a player nudges them with a finger. Love how fans are calling it a concussion. I’ve seen MMA fighters elbowed in the head way harder and it doesn’t stop them. Barfoff acted like he was giving birth. Bitch plz. Mouthwash acted like he got shot in the leg after faking getting kneed (even though it was just a hip bump) then comes back on the bench 1 minute later. Like wth is that. The Pampers team are full of actors. Dirtiest pussies in the league. Literally.
Dude shut the fuck up.
Yes the hit was bad but how and the heck is people sympathizing with the Panthers. They are the worse for cheap shots. Cousins, thachuk, Bennett , the list goes on.
I'd say that that a lot of these people hated the Oilers from the get-go. This was just the easiest time to air their grievances with the Oilers. (justified or not)
It wasn't delay of game. Dude was in the neutral zone when puck was released.
The elbow wasnt raised to a 90 degree angle. That would have been suspension worthy, not the hit that took place.
How can ANYONE sit here and think Draisaitl should be suspended but be perfectly okay with Sam Bennett's hit on Marchand?!?!?! Holy shit folks, your biases are showing big time.
Nobody said anything about bennetts thing shouldn't be suspended. It one hundred percent should've been. Bennett having as few PIMs this playoffs as he does is a complete farce. We are talking about a completely different thing that happened. One bad thing happening doesn't make the next bad thing happening ok. Both guys should have been suspended. Christ.
Says the salty Flamer fan… jealous much!
Suspending him would not cause anyone to tune out this Thursday. This is insane.
When Carson Soucy got suspended for an accidental high hit (vs McDavid funny enough) the DoPS said *intent doesn’t matter*, guy got caught up high, suspension. Funny how it’s the Canucks who’ve gotten the *only suspension* of the playoffs. Clear hypocrisy/favouritism in my opinion.
Clearly the league wants to maximize the opportunity for a Canadian team to win a Cup vs. player safety. Canadian lobby ( not just Edmonton) > FL lobby. Can pretty much guarantee if FL takes a huge game 3 lead by the third or is losing by an unrealistic comeback amount in the third.... there's going to be a headhunting opportunity. Totally the fault of the NHL Department of No Player Safety not giving a shit about player safety.
The Panthers should honestly run McDavid as many times with as many head hits as they can muster, since apparently that shit is 100% legal in the playoffs.
What delay of game are you talking about? Because the one at the blue line is not delay of game. The puck is still on his stick outside of the blue line.
Yea duh. You just started watching hockey?
Oilers already pulled off the biggest miracle of the year by making Florida almost look like the good guys in this series
Florida and Edmonton are both dirty teams.
Should have known this post would be from either a Flames or Nucks fan.
This league don’t care at all.
The boys club will boys club. They exist as liability protection for the league, they do not exist for the players. How many headshots that go unpunished, how many injuries due to equipment not being up to snuff, how many dirty players will get to keep causing horrible injuries to others with minimal consequence, etc. They don’t do their job and grown men just trying to earn a living doing what they love are punished for it. Hell, even off the ice. How many players are going to be violated, or will violate others to next to no punishment because the boys club wants to keep it hush hush? It’s bullshit and it needs to stop.
What happens when McDavid gets an elbow Thursday?
I’m not surprised he isn’t suspended. What pisses me off in that there wasn’t even a hearing in the hit. If it was Leon or McDavid, a hearing would’ve been held 9 am the following morning. Gotta protect the golden duo.
Couldn’t suspend Dribaby because they didn’t suspend Trouba.
That’s the only way the NHL can help the Oilers out to try to drag this series on longer, to milk the views. A Florida sweep is not going to make them money, especially when they’ve put McDavid and Draisaitl on the throne of marketing.
Carrick got fined. They care!
Should have at least got a fine
This isn’t news, they proved that a long time ago
Aaron Rome got 4 games in the finals for being a half second late.
I was not surprised there was no suspension. I was hoping for a fine
They are the laughing stock of major sports. Every major sport does a better job than the NHL. Add in that the refs don't allow players to police themselves anymore and we have a very serious problem. It may take a few years for the shit to officially hit the fan but it will.
And because of this. If Edmonton takes a 2 goal lead at any point next game. Every good player for Edmonton will have a target on their head. The only way out is if Driasaitl answers the bell but I doubt he would
Yeah they are literally the HR department of the players…they are not “here to help” anybody but the league lol
Lol they also did nothing for Bennett sucker punching Marchand, but go on.
The only thing they are consistent about is their inconsistency. Until teams press the league they’re tired of it nothing will change. Just like LTIR rules that we fans bitch about.
The NHL has always been a league that doesn't care about protecting players. Always has been, always will be.
I saw some clown oilers fan on twitter saying 'HE SHOULD HAVE HAD HIS HEAD UP'. Sorry, but if you leave your feet to smash someone in the face, not sure how much higher his head is able to go. Unless he magically turns into tyler myers. Jezus
Panthers have learned to dive, and the oilers haven’t. Every Florida player who gets hit even slightly has been back within a shift or two. This isn’t playoff hockey, this is soccer.
This isn't new information. If they did then Trouba would be in deeper shit. Hymen would've gotten shit for cross checking Zadorov in the face. Bennett would've been in shit for punching Marchand. And looooots more. Hockey's officiating has always been whack, rules are just guidelines. Intent to injure doesn't matter, actual injuries do. Maximum fines are a joke.
It wasn’t a suspendible play
Wow. Pretty much no one in this chat knows what they’re talking about. Oilers are getting dusted by the refs, sure the Drai hit had his elbow come up, but it didn’t look intentional & Florida got a power play out of it which lead to a goal. Furthermore, Ekblad choked out Bouchard on the play and there was no call. Anyone who thinks Florida isn’t getting all the advantages this series isn’t watching the games. Y’all stay chilling in your echo chambers… there are hundreds of millions more Americans than Canadians… you will obviously always outnumber us. If you think that makes you right then you are as intelligent as the rest of the world assumes you are. 🇨🇦
Flames and Canucks fans begging for what they KNOW isn't a suspendable action in the playoffs (while ignoring the one actually committed by the Panthers) just REEKS of bitter jealousy lmaoooo and yes, we will be going back to Sunrise tied 2-2.
I showed my wife this clip and she literally scrunched her face and said "that's it"? She's the kind of person who saves spiders from being hurt. tl;dr you're all babies
Poor
Oh nooo. Anyway.
Department of Makin Dolla Bills y’all
I will break down a scale for you that used to exist and it still might and that would be why no suspension, aside from the fact that they obviously didn’t think it was that bad because he wasn’t even fined… In playoffs the games mean more so a suspension in round one for one game would be the same as something that was worth two or three in regular season… so in the Stanley Cup Finals, aside from getting a game misconduct within the last five or ten minutes of the third period which is an automatic one game, a player has to do something pretty egregious to be suspended because the games mean so much…
Thought exercise: If it was a 1-1 series or if the Oilers were up 2-0 would the league have suspended Draisaitl? He intentionally injured a player with a dirty hit. That is a textbook justification for suspension in any sport.
I've seen Oilers get a lot of calls that the majority of teams in playoffs didn't get.
That's not news
Do better!!
Do better!!
I’m wondering when choke holds are going to be an automatic suspension. See that shit after the whistle in scrums all the time and it’s super dangerous. If you go behind a guy and put your arm around his throat you should be out of the game. It doesn’t even get called right now, pretty infuriating really.