It was a very good hockey game. The Edmonton Oilers didn’t lose it so much as run out of time, but credit to the Vancouver Canucks they played a strong, desperate game against a much better opponent and won the day. The last chapter of the game, or the prelude to the next game, involved some violence and NHL Player Safety is going to suspend Connor McDavid and Tyler Myers. Let’s have a look.
These are the names you should remember as spring signing season approaches for NHL teams. There’s even a big, physical winger in here.
These are my opinions on the play, I invite yours in the comments section. I will tell you that not much is going to change, in fact nothing has changed since I was a kid beyond things like society finding a certain level of violence unacceptable. The NHL has had to adapt slightly to the times, but there’s no protection for Connor McDavid, just as there was none for Sidney Crosby, or Mario Lemieux, or Bobby Orr.
Wayne Gretzky had Dave Semenko on his line often enough to represent a nuclear deterrent, but the NHL isn’t a league that allows this anymore.
Targeting team’s best players? Oh hell, all day.
You could hear it in the voices of the folks who were on-air last night, much of the blame placed on McDavid for his actions (and Tyler Myers, too) but not too terribly much about the shenanigans committed by Conor Garland. In NHL world, the Garland play was effective hockey against a great player, and the fact no official blew the whistle is in keeping with the spirit of the NHL.
You can argue that it was a filthy bit of business, but that and $1.50 will get you a pretty good cup of coffee at the drive-thru. If you’re looking for the hockey equivalent of an $8 cup of coffee at the drive-thru? Doesn’t exist.
The NHL appeals to us on several levels, and one of them aligns perfectly with wrestling. Beautiful plays and championships appeal to most everyone, but there’s a basic human bloodlust that the NHL satisfies for a large part of the fan base. Maybe you don’t have that gear, but a significant portion of your fellow NHL fans want to be outraged, want that anger flowing through their veins. It’s like drinking rye. It angries up the blood, I know it does. I have four bottles of it in my house. I also have wine. Can you guess which bottle has dust on it?
Some might feel McDavid’s frustration and feel a need to lash out at the organization. What the hell? Why can’t they find an enforcer? Well, they are trying to win hockey games and protectors are most often not good at hockey.
There’s also an inconvenient truth about all violence. If someone is determined to do you harm, there’s not much really that anyone can do about it. You can buy a weapon but that doesn’t mean you’re going to win a shootout, and you can call the police but they may not get there in time. Do you remember who was on the ice when Marc Savard took the head hit from Matt Cooke? I do.
So, what’s the answer? Kris Knoblauch has his Oilers playing grand hockey, and a team like Vancouver has to fight tooth and nail to win a game like last night. Edmonton was at the end of a long road trip, and a highly successful one. The die was cast, I said in yesterday’s post “it’s possible the club is running in to a hornet’s nest tonight” and it happened just this way.
What can we say for certain today? McDavid and Myers will get suspended. More important, the idea that you can run over the Oilers and beat them with intimidation is fading, ever so slowly, into the past. The Oilers play a rugged style, led by McDavid and Draisaitl, and that’s a wrinkle that should produce results in the postseason.
What can we not say for certain? We don’t know how Daryl Katz, Jeff Jackson and Stan Bowman will react to last night. You should hope the organization allows Kris Knoblauch to stay the course. The NHL has rarely seen a player protected, and the single individual (Gretzky) who identifiably was protected also eluded some big hits with his speed and guile.
Finally, and you’re not going to like this, Edmonton Oilers fans are going to have to acknowledge the great 1980’s team was at times pure filth, and that this team, even the superstars, have been willing to do the stick work for a long time now.
This is the NHL. Same as it ever was.
New for The Athletic: Setting up the Edmonton Oilers’ 2025 spring amateur signing season
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6071667/2025/01/19/edmonton-oilers-2025-amateur-signings/
Summarizing!
O’Reilly sniped his 18th of the season and added an assist.
Wakely had a helper.
Akey and Nicholl were denied soup.
Prospecting takes a break until Tiw’s Day.
Matt Savoie continues to be aggressive, physical and tenacious in the offensive zone – a fairly hard hit on a bigger d-man behind the offensive net to win a puck.
All I know is that Bowman should be giving the NHL an earful of complaining about the refs in that sequence. It never should have gotten to that point. Their arms should have been up in the air long before McDavid’s crosscheck. To tackle the NHL’s best player in the O-zone and nowhere near the puck when they are down by 1 goal with seconds left in the game is about as blatant a penalty as you can get. Brutal, just brutal.
I will never forget Mario stepping up to the mic, in the heart of the dead puck era, with the blandly venomous observation that it’s the league’s call if they prefer to promote “marginal” players.
Caggiula with a very nice transition pass from the defensive half boards in the neutral zone to…… Ronnie Attard. Attard enters the zone, on a 2 on 2, walk the one d-man, heads in to the slot and snaps one past Tokarski for an early 1-0 lead. Wow.
Savoie was in the battle in the d-zone but not awarded the secondary assist.
Connor Carrick out of the lineup for personal reasons – he’s been very good for the Condors this season.
They are very under-manned but at least Swetlikoff has arrived from Fort Wayne so they won’t have to play short.
I can agree that hockey has always been, and still is an aggressive sport.
And things will not change quickly.
Playoffs promote high competition from highly aggressive players. You must find a way to win. If you are not faster, you are allowed to hit, grab, interfere to slow your opponent down. Oilers loved Gretzky. Everyone else hated Gretzky because they could not stop him. If he’s tripped, held, hurt, taken down there is no problem. Out for a series? That’s the best result.
So what is the industry standard to manage this situation? It is to build your team to look after your top players. This is the norm.
Edmonton is built to win games, not fight. They do have a weakness, it’s the ability to handle this threat. Connor, Leon are not weak. They can respond. But industry standard is the team helps them out. The team takes heat of them so they can focus on goals.
Rugged NHLers don’t fear a fight. So sending a bigger enforcer out for a fight does not scare the agitator. So one big enforcer doesn’t work, plus the refs see him coming and over penalize him.
The big enforcer is in a no win situation. Picked on for his play. Too late to protect his teammate.
The answer is a rugged edge has to be built into the team via several players. The team must have a response. I don’t see anyone running Quinn Hugh’s as he has other 6.5 dmen clearing out net and running the corners. Any agitators are kept busy.
Are top players intimidated? Not generally but yes at times. Rather not go in front of the net to take a beating when no help is coming. Players play bigger when they know they have toughness, it’s just a thing.
Balance was always a big Lowtide key word. Team needs some functional toughness. Can they win without it? Maybe, but a lot of luck involved. Each year the opposition has injured the top players. In my opinion this is the reason Oilers lost.
So far this season, nobody can beat the Oilers unless they injured their top players. So you absolutely know what the plan will be.
What will Oilers do about it?
Good post!
Utterly amazing to see McDavid grappled with less than a minute remaining. The refs clearly refuse to call the game properly. I’m no bleeding heart usually either.
Stupid NHL. More interested in selling its latest gambling angle than anything else.
Already the temperature of the gambling advertising has risen substantially, as greed enters the picture and the sucker…well they need to be informed of all the myriad ways they can lose their money.
Agree as always with LT’s take. A penalty on Garland for the grappling is clearly appropriate but the ref’s missed/declined to enforce a clear penalty, and it’s not unexpected, because NHL.
I’m not upset with McD’s reaction (good for him for not taking it and taking matters into his own hands). Myers’s crosscheck seems more unprovoked but both will probably get the same suspension, because NHL.
Not a defect in the Oilers roster, although having Kane back would bring some skilled grit back into the lineup which would certainly be welcome.
Interesting discussion of the difference between the NHL and the NFL. The NHL rule book is in fact, way too simple. There are essentially three types of penalties for “fouls”:
The NFL has dozens if not hundreds of penalties are carefully cultivated to find the exact right amount of disincentive so players don’t make that foul; or at least aren’t perversely incented to.
Consider for a moment the false start penalty. The NHL would find a tiny flinch by the offensive lineman to be “ticky tack” and you’d never see it called but the big brains in the NFL understand that if the O line can get a head start it throws the entire game out of balance. Linemen would get more penetration. Run plays would be 5 yards on average instead of 3-4 and then no one would ever pass the ball.
The NHL needs way, way more levels of infraction.
A quick hook in the hands in the neutral zone perhaps should be treated like a foul in soccer. Two minutes is “too much” so therefore it’s never called and when it is people get angry.
DNB says he was told that Ryan was told this was a possibility when he signed his 2-year deal last off-season.
I said a couple days ago the Oilers should target Trent Frederic because this is going to happen in the playoffs with both L.A and the Canucks.
A type of player like that who can play up and down the line up.
as far as the referees go.
I’ve enjoyed reading the WWE references out there, it’s like the referee missing the tag, missing the cheap shot while getting knocked out was one of better ones I read.
I thought the game was severely hampered if not lost with the lineup decision to put Brown in over a fresh skater like Kapanen or Skinner. The Oilers needed to play to their strengths and hem the Canucks in their own end like they had done to the Avs and the Wild in the previous two comebacks.
On the other hand, it might have been injury insurance. I wonder if Ekholm or Nurse or Stetcher might be nursing something and Brown was in the lineup to take a few of those minutes off those guys.
In the end, it might not have mattered either way. It’s been a long stretch of games and of travel and the tank might have been too empty to turn on the jets to propel us to the win. I’m just thankful we won as many as we did in the past 2 weeks
Ryan waived, J Brown down to Bako.
Both the right moves, accrue more cap to add in Klingon.
Knock knock young(ish) Philp.
See you soon as a Black Ace Mr. Ryan, will leave the light on for you.
CapWages has them with a 23 man roster, and $3,520,833 in cap space.
Interesting. Wonder if that accounts for Klingberg and these 2 moves, and if that is projected cap for the deadline? As in accrual allows for that equivalent amt to be added at that time as opposed to current space.
Absolutely as expected. They want to get down under the cap (and out of LTIR) when they activate Klingberg and, while his cap hit is $1.73MM, as with any contract acquired/added in-season, if not operating in LTIR, only “what’s left on the AAV for the season” needs to fit in to their projected cap hit.
Presuming they effect the above, they they will have the full amount of the Kane LTIR to use.
As anticipated, they are using their normal course accrued cap space to fit Klingberg in, leaving the LTIR space for other adds.
Hockey is a great sport, but the NHL is the bushiest bush league to ever bush. I honestly thought sports betting would change the officiating. Only a fool would place a bet on an NHL game. Justice for Connor.
I respectfully disagree with the premise that the refs failed because they didn’t protect McDavid. At no point in time did Garland do anything to threaten McDavid’s safety. The problem was that they “let them play” because there was 1 minute left in the game.
The rules don’t change because there is 1 minute left. They also don’t change when Vancouver is on the PP with a 2-0 lead and calling the penalty would have negated a goal. They sure as shit didn’t change when Ekholm was called for cross checking at the 5 minute mark. That was the problem last night. McDavid lost his cool because for the last 5 minutes he was repeatedly interpreted with, and for 15 seconds straight was in wrestling holds. Even Garland admitted as much.
If I was McDavid, I’d seriously consider calling up Gary and telling him I’m sitting out his pet project tournament until Wes and co. are held accountable. That’s how irate he should be this morning.
Thankfully Connor would never do this because he’s not an entitled baby.
*interfered with
It was no coincidence that Garland was the smallest guy on the ice, if it had been someone else, they might not have gotten away with their last-minute shenanigan’s. Tocchet’s fingerprints are all over the ploy, Garland was following orders. No way did Tocchet want the Oilers to tie it up with seconds left on the clock. So, tie up McDavid instead. Too bad McDavid used his stick to even things up, he should have used his fists to send the message.
I’m thrilled that EDM went 7-2-0 on a brutal travel schedule 9 game stretch in 16 days where I thought 4-4-1 would be ok.
Heady times.
Also:
Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo the Dys
*spits*
I would like to take the opportunity to celebrate the 7-2 records on this 9 game “road trip”.
I’m not sure the organization will, or should, have any real reaction.
If anything, some “words about officiating” and minor infractions not called.
I’m not sure all the talk about enforcers and protection and what are really all that relevant. I mean, its not like McDavid was viciously attached with a slash or an elbow or a headshot or whatnot. He was held and tackled and held.
test
Incidents like last night’s reveal a clear distinction within the fanbase imo.
Fans who grew up playing minor hockey shrug and say, that’s hockey. Sometimes your temper gets the better of you in the heat of battle.
Fans who never played the game tend to overreact a little more, laboring under this belief that you can ever achieve full compliance with the rule book in a game where the players have swords on their feet and spears in their hands.
Having grown up with hockey as a much more violent sport, I 100% miss the days when the game was true bloodsport. Nothing like a little hate to make for a great game.
But we’re not there anymore. Today’s NHL has to navigate the realities of the nanny state, bubble wrap culture we live in now.
When incidents like this happen, the reaction on social media is over the top because these things become a litmus test for so much more. Generational divides. Violence vs Pacifism. And hockey’s inherent tribalism (the refs are out to screw us. Life is so unfair!).
Personally I love Connor elbowing a Wild player in the head one night than cross checking Garland in the earhole the same week. Our little guy is all grown up now and taking matters of justice into his own hands.
You want the boys to win a Cup? Imagine the players around the league checking Connor with a little more hesitation and a little less aggression. That sounds like a recipe for success to me!
Why don’t you talk about the true good ol’ days where players didn’t wear masks or helmets, padding was smaller, and you could get away with having a beer inbetween periods! The hockey you grew up with is so soft compared to the TRUE, good ol’ days!
Good point.
When I was a boy reading about the legendary toughness of the Original Six players, I absolutely wished I could have watched the sport then too. Those guys were true gladiators. Some of the legendary stories of the league then sound like an unbelievable Hollywood action movie now.
Absolutely.
Do you think the possibility that McDavid would react with an elbow or cross check that could get him suspended in a playoff game is more or less likely to result in bottom 6 players clutching and grabbing him?
By the way, his elbow to the head to Johansson, a border line Lady Byng candidate every season, seemed more like an attempt to pick/interfere rather than to send any kind of a message.
Agree with your first paragraph 100%. This will only encourage teams to harass, impede frustrate 97.
I don’t believe the context really matters. In fact some randomness to it likely helps McDavid. If the players around the league see Connor as more of a loose cannon, that might get him a little more open ice. Pacifists don’t get a wide berth.
Do you think it helps or hinders Matt Tkachuk in the playoffs?
Just went to my kid’s minor league game this morning. Funny, I didn’t see any tackling and wrestling moves. And the teenage refs called penalties when they occurred.
In the NFL a penalty is a penalty, the stars are protected above all else just ask theTexans one sport advanced in the safety of its players the other is governed by old mentality.
Not actually true. Jared Goff got smoked in the chin last night and had to leave the field for a few plays. No penalty called.
Refs are going to miss some calls. Human beings are not perfect.
Everyone is also forgetting a really interesting year in NHL history. 2005-06.
Go look at the playoff games. Go look at the penalty calls. Recall that Chris Pronger scored one of the most gorgeous PP slap shot goals ever on a 5-on-3, with another penalty coming to Anaheim.
They can call the game properly. They choose not to.
Even consulting older playoff gamesheets often shows a ton of powerplays. Something that is missing now.
There’s been a shift. It is for “game management” and “parity”. It has made the hockey worse by trying to create an unnatural TV show. They think the NFL method is the way. It is not.
That was the result of the Shanahan Summit during the lockout. The result was 6 powerplays per team per game & to many the cure was worse than the disease.
That was the year Sid Crosby won the scoring title with 59 points at even strength & 61 on the powerplay.
As this extremely useful source shows, powerplay opps steadily dropped from that pinnacle on an annual basis to its current average of roughly half as many.
https://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html
There are no easy answers to this problem.
Really? Calling the rule book is not an easy or logical solution? Players can adapt and there will be more chances/goals.
I’m stating that the hockey was, in fact, better. People are free to be wrong and say that wasn’t true all they want.
And that was with no time to adapt. After a couple years it would have been excellent.
One of the worst rules they quietly scrapped since then – a reasonable intended pass wasn’t icing that season. That made some really interesting plays happen.
How much of the reduction in power plays is due to less calls per actual infraction or players actually adapting to the new standards and committing less fouls? I would suggest it is both since watching a game today, there seems to be way less interference, hooking and holding compared to pre-lockout, even if it is not always called consistently. I mean plays like what Garland did to McDavid last night was a regular defensive feature in the dead puck era with little expectation that is would be or should be called.
I tend to agree though the officiating standard has moved towards more lax certainly this year, with the lowest PP opportunities since the stat has been kept, with scoring starting to trend down again after a few years of nice gains.
Further down the thread I offer my recollection of how Pronger consistently got away with almost murder. Let’s not forget Torres successfully head hunting the best skaters on teams that had the Oilers outmatched and rarely even drawing a penalty.
I recall the 2005-2006 postseason as one where allowing filth became a key component of EDM advancing through to the final.
If the league was smart they would give each player a 1 game suspension making Thursdays match a must see game. The prior suspension that was bunk will hurt McDavid and he’ll recieve 2 games. I figure McDavid will forfeit over 300,000 in salary.
Where are you coming up with your figure of “$300,000 in salary?”
According to CapWages, Connor’s daily cap hit is: $65,104.
I believe if McDavid is a repeat offender (disciplined within the last 18 months), the fine is salary times games suspended divided by 82. If he is not a repeat offender, the fine is salary times games suspended divided by days in the season.
I can’t wait to hear from some disgruntled ref in the future that Mcdavid broke some unwritten code so they wouldn’t give him the calls
I lose my mind when I hear that crap.
The days of the true enforcers were numbered when the NHL brought in the Instigator penalty in the early 90s. I mentally call it the Neil Sheehy rule, because he would cheap shot Kurri and Gretzky continuously and would never answer the resultant dance invitations. That and I saw an interview where Sheehy personally took the blame/credit for the rule.
So barring such outliers like Clark Gillies on your top line who could score a point per game and protect linemates by kicking ass, teams had to rely on so called “team toughness,” which is a code for having guys who could actually play hockey and were willing to get punched in the face.
There are still some of the Gordie Howe school, who believed in the power of initiating over retaliating. Messier is brought up here and if you ever watched that clip where Denis Savard reacts to smelling salts, know it was the result of a Messier elbow, one of several uncalled in that playoff game against Chicago. Glen Anderson was another one who was given a little extra room because of his unpredictability with the stick. The problem with that approach is the punishment that aggressive style takes on your body and the inevitable suspensions that come with it.
It’s a fine line that players like McDavid have to walk as offsetting penalties are a win for the opposing side, but you can hardly fault them for retaliating once in awhile. I don’t think McDavid’s crosscheck retaliation for getting mugged is on the same level as Tyler Myer’s sucker crosscheck on Bouchard and shouldn’t be punished the same (but probably will be, because NHL).
George Parros hates the Oilers going back to the Lowe&MacTavish days.
I’m a big fan of the Gordie Howe approach to taking a number. If he thought someone took a liberty he’d take note of who it was and exact retribution at a time of his choosing — typically when the sole referee (as was the fashion at the time) was looking elsewhere.
The other thing guys can do is to start annihilating the other team’s star players when the opportunity occurs.
The team tends to rally whenever McDavid is out, so I’m not all that worried about a suspension.
Let McDavid remind the league once a year that he is more than capable of meting out justice. It keeps the other teams honest, and puts the spotlight on the jokers in the NHL head offices.
I expect to see the lines spread out more evenly against Washington, which would also be a welcome development.
I look at the incident as 2 super competitive players battling and McDavid in the heat of the moment giving back all the shit he takes. McDavid-Leon have taken a fair amount of abuse the last 7-10 games with zero response from the rest of the team. You think it’s bad now wait till playoffs. I myself would add get some functional toughness up front and on D.
Another frustrating night for fans of skilled hockey. And unfortunately it will likely be a 2 game suspension for McDavid.
Frustrating night for the Oilers & their fans. Can’t win ‘em all.
The last few games were a bit frustrating – the other team played hard in the first and forced the Oil to get back in the game. That added to the exertion and fatigue. They need to stop playing this way.
The legs were tired esp D, exemplified by calls on – 2-14-25-14.
But no whistles on the Nucks.
And after all the calls, they let them play in the 3rd.
I just hope Myers gets an extra game. Garland McDavid were battling, but Bouch just walked up and got carbon in his teeth. It won’t happen, because it’s the NHL, but the two cases do differ.
Enjoy a glass of wine LT!..lol
Draisaitl had a pretty good take on this situation. It’s hockey, they were frustrated, and these things happen.
Imagine the grins on all our faces today if we were up by a goal, and Cory Perry was wrestling with Quinn Hughes like that at the end of the game and no penalty was called. I’d need my smile surgically removed!!
Go home and rest up and get some home cooking for the next 6 boys. 6 and 2 road trip was outstanding with that schedule.
Dominant hockey teams don’t have to play tackle defence. Underdog mentality still hasn’t left Edmonton sadly.
Are dominant teams generally down 3-0 after the first period? The start of the game is what should be making fans angry.
Are you suggesting that the Oilers are not one of the more dominant teams in the league due to the deficit last night (and the few games prior) as they traverse the continent?
Absolutely not. I’m saying it was just one game, at the end of a long road trip. Most teams see this one as a scheduled loss in September when they see the schedule. They are as good a bet as anyone to win the cup this year. I just stand by my opinion that the interference was not a big deal. And that if it was Perry on Quinn, we’d all be giddy about it. Connor Garland is kinda cut from the same cloth as Perry.
It was Vancouver playing tackle defense.
Read his comment.
McDavid and the rest of the high end players should bow out of things like the 4 Nation Challenge, future All Star games, put a stop to the endorsement commercials for awhile. Why keep endorsing and promoting the league when it’s obvious the league doesn’t care about the main players??
if the NHL won’t change, it’s well past time then to grab the bull by the horns.
That or have Bowman offer the two Irish brothers from the Boondocks Saints a contract for security reasons.
I think that McDavid and the other starts are VERY excited for the Four Nations Cup.
ASGs are a different animal.
Ya, but Olympics are around the corner. McDavid helped improve AS skills competition and his worth to the league and this tournament is important.
Even the Washington game is a good marketing opportunity
I understand that and I’m sure this tournament pales in comparison to the Olympics for most of the players but, at the same time, I do think that the players really want to play in this next month and they wouldn’t want to boycott even if that was being discussed, right?
I tend to agree with this… not only is it a tune up for the upcoming Olympics, but this tournament should be a fairly significant injection of HRR which will have a tangible impact on upcoming salary cap increases.
So, I don’t pay attention for a while and now we’re the Big Bad Bullies of the NHL while every other team has turned into even more angelic Angels? Every other fanbase seemingly can’t accept how much crap McDavid gets so they’re all compensating when he finally starts to retaliate, frustrated with 10 years of referee incompetence. This is a topsy turvy world, for sure.
I I won’t get into geopolitics here, but you’re definitely right
As long as folks like Bettman, Campbell, Parros, etc., are responsible for player safety and discipline, the league will never change.
It starts at the top. These guys rule the league with anti-skill dogma.
Bettman comes from the school of parity. He has done everything in his power to ensure it. This will never change.
All you need to know about the NHL is that McDavid does not lead the league in penalties drawn. Just egregious.
The Oilers do not need an enforcer. They do need a Sam Bennett-esque player (or a healthy Kane from 3 years ago) to target other teams top players/distract other teams.
As long as the NHL allows teams to target star players, the Oilers need to play the game. Foul, foul, foul. Distract, distract, distract.
I think that reminds me of the most frustrating part of the Holland Era. Refusal to play the muckery. Other teams abuse the LTIT Loopholes? Other teams get away with referee bias? Other teams play the borderline and dirty game to have games mired down?
No, we’re too honourable. We’ll win straight up. Almost did, too, a few times. But almost doesn’t count but for hand shoes and horse grenades.
Were the league sane, professional, honourable…
Hate to say it, but alternate reality Oil have Turtle to draw the ire of opposing players.
Sometimes it’s less about deterrence than about offering an alternative people can’t help but punch. These Oilers could use a superpest.
I hope Bouchard learned that in a scrum you don’t wander over to the biggest guy and take out your mouthguard to chat. WTF man…
I recently went through my Christmas gift of the Oilers ten best games on dvd. The Islanders games chosen were filthy as were the 85 finals against Philadelphia. The closest to fast hockey with some open ice was in the 90 finals against Boston. I was certainly shocked at what the refs of that era were letting go. I think most fans realize that hockey can be a very tough and exciting game when it is called by the rule book but the NHL has generally refused to do just that.
The NHL stars are held and hooked every night and the game is much less entertaining than it could be.
McDavid lost his cool and targeted to hurt a player. He should get a game suspension.
I recommend the final game of the upcoming 4 Nations Cup as that game to service the suspension.
I expect it will be two games for both McDavid and Myers. The HNIC crew provided the example of Auston Matthews on Rasmus Dahlin for which Matthews received two games. I think it is a good comparable.
It also reminds me of the Nurse and Pietrangelo mirrored suspensions. One should have been much longer than the other, but the League can’t have that.
They will also likely consider that the second game would include the re-match with Vancouver in an effort to turn down the temperature.
The NHL of the past would make sure they were back for that game to turn UP the temperature.
i remember well The Martin Havlat Game when Havlat got a 2-gamer (could easily have been more) against Philly, which meant he returned from suspension for a game IN Philly. Chaos, & about 400 PiM, ensued.
Actually, 417 PiM.
https://www.hockey-reference.com/boxscores/200403050PHI.html
Background here:
https://www.espn.com/nhl/news/story?id=1746073
key words: “at Philadelphia”, second paragraph.
McDavid and Ekholm and Arvidsson should not be available, since they will all be injured at that time.
in the end, how important is it to play in those games? It is iltimately a meaningless tournament, except that it is a more competitive kind of allstar game meant to celebrate the game and it’s stars.
The NHL does not support it’s stars. McDavid’s Agency, the NHLPA and the Oilers should be having conversations with the NHL braintrust about protecting their most important assets starting right now. This is where he has some leverage.
The rats of the NHL should not be rewarded for the routine unenforced liberties (aka cheating) they take against the stars of the game. With betting so prominent, why is there no crackdown?
It is not in the league’s best interests to suspend star players, but they set-up the conditions for it to happen.
Also, can you even bet on WWE matches?
The real reason they lost? The coach tried to win a game with one line at the end of a tough stretch of games. Kapanen and Skinner being out was utterly stupid.
Agree with that sentiment. I was at the game last night … the ice was tilted to the Vancouver zone whenever the McDavid-Draisaitl-Hyman line was on the ice. But the rest of the lines had no juice, and couldn’t generate a lick of sustained offensive zone time, or a single decent chance.
Kapanen and Skinner should’ve played and McDavid, Draisaitl and Hyman should have been spread out between the lines.
They got all of 15 shots on net … 6 shots from the top trio, 6 shots from the defensemen, and 3 shots from the rest of the forwards. You can’t win that way.
The only other forward that stood out was Podkolzin, who threw some hard hits right in front of where I was sitting.
The Oilers defensemen took way too many stupid, undisciplined penalties. High sticks, broken lumber and Nurse’s trip.
Nurse also *got* tripped, but that was ignored. Canucks scored the game winner seconds later.
can’t disagree with this either. looked like the whole team was on fumes.
You may have some valid points that an alternate strategy might have produced a better result. Ranting that the coaches choices were utterly stupid does nothing whatsoever to lend any credence to your point of view and actually severely detracts from it.
Of course reading your post below on how the Oilers should be running around trying to hospitalize people based on a missed interference/holding call say a lot about your hockey analysis.
Responding like I’m some kind of noob or rando around here is amusing. Thanks for that.
I do not disagree. Oil have yet to consistently maximize benefits of their full roster.
There is a point about Messier below, and it is correct.
If you’re #97 and you’re going to do that, you have to actually hurt Garland. And I’m not talking about a chipped tooth. No one’s scared of what he did. If on the other hand McDavid dropped a sneaky elbow on him during that “defending” he was doing and Garland was out for three weeks, which is what Garland deserves, the league would know it for a while.
I’d send Josh Brown to the minors forever for not doing anything in the last 2.5. He has time to go after someone – even Demko if he’d like. Nothing.
The reality is that the Oilers don’t physically scare a lot of teams. Not because they can’t – but because when they’ve had the chance to inflict pain, they’ve walked away. They’ve owed this version of the Canucks a painful, painful hockey game for a long time now. Not dealing with that results in last night.
Chris Pronger would have put someone in the hospital and thought nothing of it multiple times over by now.
Yes we really need Kane or crazy eyes Kassian or Maroon. Those guys scared the other team. Kane especially has enough. Easy in him to strike fear into the opposition.
Garland “deserves” to be injured & out for three weeks? For trying to win? For being sneaky?
When Messier took out Jamie Macoun, it was in retaliation for Madoun trying to end Messier with a savage board check earlier in the game, not for an arm bar.
He deserved a sneaky elbow if he’s going to decide this is tackle hockey. Maybe he’s out 3 weeks and maybe he’s just bruised…who knows.
You and I both know Messier could decide to pull out the Prehistoric People’s Elbow at any time.
Was watching the great video of Bure demolishing Shane Churla for his BS the other day. Live by the sword…
Is there a team currently that physically scares the rest of the league? I’d say no (the days of the Broad Street Bullies are looooong gone).
There are a few squads that might be described as “tough to play against”, but that’s not quite the same thing.
People play Florida like they’re scared. Vegas sometimes as well. NYR was there for a bit last year but has messed that up royally.
Teams don’t play any of those teams as if their scared because of their physicality, they play those teams like they don’t want to take penalties because they are good teams.
Theres not 1 player on Florida that is physically intimidating, they hit and play on the edge for a few players but there is no one that is any real threat, same with Vegas, they have Kolesar with 4 fights, the Oilers have Podkolzin, Emberson and Nurse for example.
The Oilers don’t consistently finish enough checks, they had 15 shots and 9 hits last night. Nurse and Podkolzin were the only ones with more than 1. Canucks had 18. Hits usually means you don’t have the puck but the Oilers don’t have teams looking over their shoulder when they are in forechecking or fetching the puck from their own end at all. There’s very minimal “oh god, here comes “x” I am gonna get crushed.” And then said player plays more tentatively or tries to make a play to avoid taking a hit and makes a mistake.
When Kane plays, he has 3-5 hits a game, whether the Oilers have the puck or don’t. It doesn’t even need to be every game but the lack of “punishment” to get the puck for the opposing players is a little frustrating.
Obviously, teams are afraid of Connor & Leon. Skill is just as scary as physicality. The combination of skill & physicality is even scarier. Do you think Edmonton isn’t tough to play against?
Regarding last night (officiating/game management notwithstanding), i think it’s a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario.
Whether McDavid skates away from Garland, or goes full Wayne Maki, or the somewhere in between that occurred, not sure it makes a difference, at least not in the way you suggest.
If 97 doesn’t react at all, he’s perceived as “soft”, and similar abuse will follow. If he loses his mind, he can be (possibly) goaded into reacting like that again, plus the supplemental discipline that inevitably results.
And if it’s Josh Brown instead of 97, same rules apply.
Hello, and welcome to the National Hockey League.
So, with that in mind, I’d prefer McDavid remain in the lineup as much as possible, versus a 10 game (Messier) suspension, as mentioned further below.
What’s interesting is that the league and its officials seemed to legitimately protect CFP from the consequences of his actions. I know karma finally circled round to make Pronger familiar with the deleterious effects of concussion, but I never saw anyone spear and slash and crosscheck folk with more abandon or license by the zebras, and I was never sure why. Not sure how the refs then determined who’d ’paid their dues’ or whatnot.
Edit: Hatcher Bros mighta gotten away with more.
All I know is someone needs to deliver Garland a pile driver on Thursday, followed by a Kurt Angle ankle lock that would be pretty cool.
Sweet Daddy Siki (rip) is no longer a free agent.
Canadian wrestling deep cut for the win.
There was a rumour ‘he has something in his trunks’….. best lines ever came from raasling commentators. Sports/athletic entertainment – lets not forget.
I bet if the powers that be in the Vegas betting realm called the NHL and told them to protect their stars like the NFL protects their quarterbacks you would see change in a week
I can’t see why they would. Variability/Unpredictability/False Parity serves The House.
One rule I would like the league to add is a game doesn’t end until penalty time expires, whether it’s regular time or extra time. Garland doesn’t pull that if he thinks he’s gonna extend the game by 2 minutes
Except referees would call even less if that’s possible.
Unfortunately.
You’d need a sane league then. Can you imagine the ‘game management’ and fake drama trying to make sure the “right team” wins certain games with that rule in place? Might as well be scripted at that stage.
To me, an even bigger issue than game management is parity management. This is the only reasonable explanation for why Mcdavid gets even less drawn penalties now than ever before. What are the percentages of time he spends both with the puck or working towards it while being interfered with? I’d hazard a guess that he is so far above the next person in line that it couldn’t even be considered a race. Yet he is way down the list in penalties drawn. Draisatl too. How many slew foots have these two endured just in the last 5 games alone. Dangerous plays against them not called a penalty. I’d have murdered someone on ice by now in frustration if I was Mcdavid or Draisatl. Ferraros reaction on air says it all. He was once a skilled player and a pretty great analyst but he reacted like Mcdavid killed a man. Then downplayed Garlands play leading to it. Then barely whispered a response when he saw an equally brutal play by Tyler Myers. Then referenced a completely unrelated play from a few games prior to prove Mcdavid is the killer he deemed him to be with his response. And this is the problem. Even the old smart skilled former players have a nonsensical response to the best player in the game taking all the crap he takes and then behaving like a normal frustrated human being.
Regardless how McDavid does not get calls against him, you can’t X check anyone in the head. I think the chicken wing earlier in the week was the NHL giving him a break. I hope that the NHL is smart and they both just get 1 game as the rematch will have a way bigger viewer pool if both Myers and McD are playing.
As for the game , the Oil did look tired and also took some stupid penalties . They also got way too fancy passing making a few to many, and just didn’t put enough pucks on net.
To your point on Ferraro, he is a huge Van Homer probably because of his wife .
I do think the oil need a couple tougher forwards . Kane and a guy like Frederic would be nice to have in the lineup. Sure McD can take care of himself, but him doing that will cost him a game or 2 in this case. If this would have been the playoffs it would suck having him miss a game.
I don’t get the 11-7 when you are in the last game of a long stretch of games with a ton of travel either. Would have been nice to have skinner or Kappanen in for added scoring touch. I don’t get playing Brown period .
Thursday night could have some fun stuff. I just hope the Oil come out and put a huge can of whoop ass on them.
Bingo. I think the NHL will hit McDavid harder because they think he abused their mercy.
Yessssssss. ⬆️⬆️⬆️⬆️
The current Oilers are a greasy bunch and can take care of things when required.
I personally believe this group is so focused on the final shiny prize that they really aren’t interested in chasing trouble or exacting a pound of flesh. I don’t believe they need to get tougher or post a facepuncher directly by the opposition’s bench.
Now, dumb things still happen, like Josh Brown trying to start something in MIN, and obvs late last night in VAN went all kinds of sideways. But I think by and large, they could care less.
They won’t back down, and clearly aren’t intimated by anyone. But I’m convinced I see a certain cool detachedness in this year’s squad.
Agreed. I think this group is treating the regular season as a long pilgrimage where the journey is Not the destination.
Wes McCauley let the game get out of control and there is no excuse for consistently poor officiating. NHL will pay dearly someday when one or more superstars is hurt indefinitely. But enforcers will make a comeback, look at Rempe on the Rangers and Reeves on Toronto. Oilers could use a Matthew Olivier type. I don’t mind Connor showing frustration and crosschecking. The NHL encourages dirty plays by the inaction of their trained refs.
Olivier would be a great pickup. UFA and having a career year with 9 goals. Imagine him and Kane back. Be a nice pair of thumpers in the playoffs
Pat Lafontaine, Eric Lindros, Bobby Orr, Paul Kariya, Mike Bossy, Marc Savard, Cam Neely. All of these excellent players had their careers shortened because of the lack of meaningful deterrence to excessive violence. There are probably several other stars I am missing. Even Gretzky’s waning years were diminished by permanent damage caused the same player who also cross checked Kariya since Suter was never going to face any meaningful consequences for his actions. The fans were robbed of getting to watch these players play a full a productive career, but NHL revenue keeps rising with more fans and higher prices.
One player I recall getting meaningful (and I would say excessive) consequences for his actions, who the NHL chose not to discipline for his head shot on Naslund, is Stephen Moore. The Bertuzzi/Moore incident wouldn’t have happened if the NHL actually did the job it should have in the initial situation, and even the initial situation might not have happened, if the NHL had previously been serious significantly reducing these types of occurrences. It can both be true that Bertuzzi and the Canucks were wrong in what they did and the NHL was wrong in its disciplinary practices and contributed significantly to the Bertuzzi Moore incident happening.
I will say though, the incident with McDavid and Garland is far away from anything related to superstars being at risk for severe injury. McDavid cross checking Garland in the head does not seem like an appropriate response to being held on the ice. Its very unlikely Garland’s intent was to do harm to McDavid nor does it appear there was a risk of injury to McDavid. If Garland had been penalized, they would have called that a good penalty no different than hooking a player going in on a breakaway to prevent a goal. Its an obstruction foul but not dangerous.
If the Oilers maintained possession throughout the sequence, I believe the current rules don’t require the referees to blow the whistle as it is just a delayed penalty situation. I don’t recall if the Canucks touched the puck during that sequence. I do agree though there is no excuse for the referees to not have at least signaled a delayed penalty.
The NHL could maybe fix the late in game incentive problem of this type of penalty having such a low risk of giving the other team a decent power play chance by having a rule along the lines of fouls in the defensive zone that occurs within the last 30 seconds awards a penalty shot instead of a power play.
Craig Simpson is one who came to mind while reading your list.
I agree with your take on the issue, but given the physical nature of hockey it’s imperative that there are a mix of players who can make an impact on several columns of the boxcars.
Guys like Kane and Maroon have an impact, much like the antics of Slasha Barkov, Turtle, and Bennett turned the tide over the course of the finals last season. I don’t think it’s about a deterrent (although Kane getting inside Turtle’s kitchen against CGY does come to mind for a recent example, and that gained some valuable real estate), so much as it’s about having an edge over the opposition. Having physical players who can skate/score/defend/get under their skin will open up time and space. And these Oilers don’t need much of either to be absolute assassins.
Hard to be disappointed with the effort last night considering the brutal schedule over the past few weeks and the great results.
This habit of slow starts bit them in the ass. Typically slow to start games, playoff series, and regular season the past 3 years. Somehow the team doesn’t play its best till it’s back is against a wall.
This is a difficult way to win consistently yet this team wins most of the time. Shows the absolute quality of the team imo.
I do think it takes a toll. Playing from behind so much taxes the best players with unnecessary extra ice time that can wear them down over the course of a season. That is the biggest reason I wish they could figure out how to start on time more often.
This is perfectly written. Frustrating to watch but it’s bringing out emotion from the fans and that’s obviously what the NHL is hoping for.
McDavid gave Garland a love tap.
Messier would have decapitated him.
“that was the style at the time” 🙂
Grandpa Simpson? Onion on a belt?
I recall Messier clubbing Thomas Gradin over the head for less than what Garland did last night. I believe Messier got 10 games for that one.
Messier got 6 for clubbing Gradin, the 10-gamer was for breaking Jamie Macoun’s face.
Do you remember if Messier got suspended for highsticking Greg Terrion in the eye, then jumping on the back of Terrion and punching him while Terrion was down on the ice holding his eye back in 1983. Terrion had done a good job in that game of checking Gretzky in a 7-3 Leafs victory and Messier complained after the game that Terrion and been using his stick too much on Gretzky and Kurri.