Matthews suspended 2 games

[L K]

I'm perfectly content with Matthews getting a game for that. 

Just for fun though there was a game last year where Weber crosschecked Simmons in the head.  He got a 5K fine.  Joel Edmondson did it later in the game and got nothing.

Spin the wheel.

mod edit:
https://twitter.com/NHLPlayerSafety/status/1503422011640528901

 

[rdowdall]

I'm perfectly content with Matthews getting a game for that. 

Just for fun though there was a game last year where Weber crosschecked Simmons in the head.  He got a 5K fine.  Joel Edmondson did it later in the game and got nothing.

Spin the wheel.

Dave Poulin (take it for what it's worth then) was musing that he thinks Matthews should get a game or 2 for the infraction.  I get that it's a dangerous retaliatory action.  If you want to stop the retaliation, then don't allow the thing that they are retaliating against.  Dahlin cross-checks Matthews into the net.  I get that Matthews cross-checked Dahlin's head and that is also dangerous, but what about the original infraction?  There was no call on that until the refs decided both should go.  If the ref had called Dahlin right off the bat, then I doubt Matthews retaliates, because he wants to be on the power play. I think it's a case of Matthews has just had enough of it.  He doesn't want to be cross-checked, tripped or manhandled anymore, and if the Refs aren't going to call it, then it's open season.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I was pretty shocked there was talk of suspension at first because watching it live I didn't think it was a big deal, but I was also inebriated at a bar so you know my judgement may not have been at its best.

A pretty forceful and direct cross-check to the neck/head area should be an easy minimum 1-game suspension. There might be arguments like "well other similar plays didn't carry a suspension" and yeah while that's super frustrating I don't think getting angry at the league for potentially getting something right is the proper reaction.

And while I understand that Matthews is probably getting fed up with reffing as a whole, I don't think Dahlin didn't anything that egregious on the play. To his credit, I think both of his plays there were more pushes/shoves which at least are less dangerous than cross-checks generally speaking. Matthews has every right to battle back against that type of defence but his response just crossed the line.

 

[L K]

I was pretty shocked there was talk of suspension at first because watching it live I didn't think it was a big deal, but I was also inebriated at a bar so you know my judgement may not have been at its best.

A pretty forceful and direct cross-check to the neck/head area should be an easy minimum 1-game suspension. There might be arguments like "well other similar plays didn't carry a suspension" and yeah while that's super frustrating I don't think getting angry at the league for potentially getting something right is the proper reaction.

And while I understand that Matthews is probably getting fed up with reffing as a whole, I don't think Dahlin didn't anything that egregious on the play. To his credit, I think both of his plays there were more pushes/shoves which at least are less dangerous than cross-checks generally speaking. Matthews has every right to battle back against that type of defence but his response just crossed the line.

I think the reason to get angry at the league is that "potentially getting something right" isn't a trend of getting things right.

Just in the last month the NHL suspended Marcus Foligno 2 games for kneeing (Feb 8) and then he does it again to Voracek on March 11th and get a 5K fine.

My anger isn't so much at the league for giving appropriate discipline for infractions.  I have a problem that they never make a concerted effort to then make appropriate discipline moving forward.  They stay arbitrary on punishment. 

Matthews was in the wrong.  He escalated in an unsafe and dangerous manner.  I think 1-2 games is perfectly appropriate for what he did.  But we are going to see the exact same play not get suspended (Niemelainen just a few weeks ago).  Then it will.  Then it won't. 
Suspensions are supposed to be punishment but also a deterrent to prevent future infractions.  The NHL does absolutely nothing to enforce this stuff...ignoring the fact that these plays are often borne out of the referees standing by and not doing their jobs.

 

[herman]

I think we're all largely on the same page, and we're very familiar with this song and dance by now.

Refs: game management leaves many minorish infractions uncalled
Players: react to accumulation of uncalled infractions and commit a safety issue
DoPS: plays the game management game at the macro level

Leafs don't get those minor calls because it looks unfair to penalize their opponents given that awarding a PP to the top PP team feels like swaying the game too much, and it looks unbalanced if the Leafs haven't been called on much of anything yet, and the NHL doesn't want to appear biased towards Toronto.

Anyway, justice for Kadri please.

 

[rdowdall]

I was pretty shocked there was talk of suspension at first because watching it live I didn't think it was a big deal, but I was also inebriated at a bar so you know my judgement may not have been at its best.

A pretty forceful and direct cross-check to the neck/head area should be an easy minimum 1-game suspension. There might be arguments like "well other similar plays didn't carry a suspension" and yeah while that's super frustrating I don't think getting angry at the league for potentially getting something right is the proper reaction.

And while I understand that Matthews is probably getting fed up with reffing as a whole, I don't think Dahlin didn't anything that egregious on the play. To his credit, I think both of his plays there were more pushes/shoves which at least are less dangerous than cross-checks generally speaking. Matthews has every right to battle back against that type of defence but his response just crossed the line.

I think the reason to get angry at the league is that "potentially getting something right" isn't a trend of getting things right.

Just in the last month the NHL suspended Marcus Foligno 2 games for kneeing (Feb 8) and then he does it again to Voracek on March 11th and get a 5K fine.

My anger isn't so much at the league for giving appropriate discipline for infractions.  I have a problem that they never make a concerted effort to then make appropriate discipline moving forward.  They stay arbitrary on punishment. 

Matthews was in the wrong.  He escalated in an unsafe and dangerous manner.  I think 1-2 games is perfectly appropriate for what he did.  But we are going to see the exact same play not get suspended (Niemelainen just a few weeks ago).  Then it will.  Then it won't. 
Suspensions are supposed to be punishment but also a deterrent to prevent future infractions.  The NHL does absolutely nothing to enforce this stuff...ignoring the fact that these plays are often borne out of the referees standing by and not doing their jobs.

Yeah, I think of the hypothetical situation, where someone cross-checks Sandin in the head, and nothing gets done about it.  Hockey is hard to get right.  I get that.  There is a lot of grey and the calls are open to interpretation.  They should expand their standard and make it more transparent.  Right now the standard is DOPS will look at it and let you know.  Expand it out though and show samples of what they are looking for and what they are looking at.  Make the decision makers explain their decisions and accountable for their decisions.  That's the first step in my eyes.  I think on the reffing side, a lot of people just want to see what goes down after a game like Sundays.  Is the ref asked "Why didn't you call that trip on Tavares?"  All they need to provide is the transcript of what happened and why the decisions were made the way they were made and what the consequences are to the refs for those decisions. 

 

[bustaheims]

Honestly, like I think L K is getting at, what we need is consistency from the DoPS and the refs. We don't get that, at all. Not in game, not game to game, not incident to incident. It's beyond frustrating, and has been part of the league for way too long.

 

[rdowdall]

Honestly, like I think L K is getting at, what we need is consistency from the DoPS and the refs. We don't get that, at all. Not in game, not game to game, not incident to incident. It's beyond frustrating, and has been part of the league for way too long.

So where do we go from here?  Do we organize a march or something?  Do we have the rights to "We're not going to take it!!!" by Twisted Sister?  Where do we come down on DOS attacks on the NHL website?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Honestly, like I think L K is getting at, what we need is consistency from the DoPS and the refs. We don't get that, at all. Not in game, not game to game, not incident to incident. It's beyond frustrating, and has been part of the league for way too long.

So where do we go from here?  Do we organize a march or something?  Do we have the rights to "We're not going to take it!!!" by Twisted Sister?  Where do we come down on DOS attacks on the NHL website?

Two words: trucker convoy

 

[herman]

Honestly, like I think L K is getting at, what we need is consistency from the DoPS and the refs. We don't get that, at all. Not in game, not game to game, not incident to incident. It's beyond frustrating, and has been part of the league for way too long.

So where do we go from here?  Do we organize a march or something?  Do we have the rights to "We're not going to take it!!!" by Twisted Sister?  Where do we come down on DOS attacks on the NHL website?

I think Keefe's message to the team on this front is the appropriate response at least at the player level: don't let the games get to the point where the refs actions/inactions can decide anything of consequence. Put up points, ignore the noise.

Shanahan, on the other hand, has more clout and cachet, and can have some of the higher level conversations without embarrassing anyone in public. Nothing good or useful comes of bashing refs in public out of anger.

 

[L K]

It's interesting to see that Landeskog didn't get a fine for his rant after the game on Thursday.

 

[ZBBM]

I was pretty shocked there was talk of suspension at first because watching it live I didn't think it was a big deal, but I was also inebriated at a bar so you know my judgement may not have been at its best.

A pretty forceful and direct cross-check to the neck/head area should be an easy minimum 1-game suspension. There might be arguments like "well other similar plays didn't carry a suspension" and yeah while that's super frustrating I don't think getting angry at the league for potentially getting something right is the proper reaction.

And while I understand that Matthews is probably getting fed up with reffing as a whole, I don't think Dahlin didn't anything that egregious on the play. To his credit, I think both of his plays there were more pushes/shoves which at least are less dangerous than cross-checks generally speaking. Matthews has every right to battle back against that type of defence but his response just crossed the line.

This, exactly.  Dahlin did what we want Liljegren to do, a lot better.

 

[dappleganger]

Honestly, like I think L K is getting at, what we need is consistency from the DoPS and the refs. We don't get that, at all. Not in game, not game to game, not incident to incident. It's beyond frustrating, and has been part of the league for way too long.

So where do we go from here?  Do we organize a march or something?  Do we have the rights to "We're not going to take it!!!" by Twisted Sister?  Where do we come down on DOS attacks on the NHL website?

Two words: trucker convoy

Two words: Tucker convoy. 

 

[rdowdall]

Honestly, like I think L K is getting at, what we need is consistency from the DoPS and the refs. We don't get that, at all. Not in game, not game to game, not incident to incident. It's beyond frustrating, and has been part of the league for way too long.

So where do we go from here?  Do we organize a march or something?  Do we have the rights to "We're not going to take it!!!" by Twisted Sister?  Where do we come down on DOS attacks on the NHL website?

I think Keefe's message to the team on this front is the appropriate response at least at the player level: don't let the games get to the point where the refs actions/inactions can decide anything of consequence. Put up points, ignore the noise.

Shanahan, on the other hand, has more clout and cachet, and can have some of the higher level conversations without embarrassing anyone in public. Nothing good or useful comes of bashing refs in public out of anger.

Agreed, I am not advocating for stringing refs up in public.  I'm just injecting some levity.  I do think though that the anger would subside a bit from the fans if the general public knew what the refs were accountable for.  I do think the refs have conversations, and I do think there are game reviews, but the public doesn't see them, so they think the refs just move on to the next game and try to screw that one up as well.  There are also mandates from the League that get passed around.  There's a lot that goes into it that we fans don't see, but it may help change our perception of what goes into reffing a game.  At least at that point, it might look like there is some rhyme or reason to what they are doing, as opposed to this complete mess from game to game.  I mean, that assumes there is a rhyme or reason, and if there is not, then the first step would be to create a rhyme, followed by the next step, which would be to create a reason. 

As for the don't let the game get to that point message, I understand it, but I also think that is a tough haul for the players some times.  If you are constantly impeded through methods that lie outside the rules of the game, that gives the other team an unfair advantage.  If they can take away Nylander's or Marner's skill through a constant physical force that is not supposed to be allowed, then I get why they would be frustrated sometimes.  I also sometimes wonder if the Leafs lack of defensive prowess can be attributed to an unwillingness to play outside the rules, although there was that hooking call against the leafs on that breakaway last night, so that might be me looking at the situation with my blue and white goggles.

I used to give Sens fans a hard time because they were always complaining about the refs, and how they didn't call stuff that happened to them.  Of course this was in the Roberts, Corson, Tucker Leaf years, and I didn't understand it because there was always a constant parade to the penalty box on the Leafs part, but for the most part I was like "Yeah they deserved that one".  Now though, with a highly skilled, not overly physical team, I get what they were seeing.  It's hard to build a skilled team in the NHL. 

 

[CarltonTheBear]

https://twitter.com/NHLPlayerSafety/status/1503422011640528901

 

[rdowdall]

In other news, the league suspended Nazem Kadri for 25 games for teaching Matthews how to do this.

 

[herman]

I?m fine with the ruling

 

[herman]

In other news, the league suspended Nazem Kadri for 25 games for teaching Matthews how to do this.

Lmao

 

[Kin]

There goes the Lady Byng.

 

[Bender]

I get that Dahlin wasn't doing a ton but Matthews at no point had the puck. How isn't he being interfered with?