If you’re a hockey fan, you’re probably aware that 19 year-old rookie phenom Elias Petterson was off to a fantastic start, scoring 8 points in his first 5 NHL games. You are also probably aware, unless you live under a rock, that 8 games into his NHL career, he also got his first head injury, courtesy of Mike Matheson.
The good news is, Petterson seems to be OK and is already skating again. Bad news is, that hit was pretty scary and according to the NHL department of safety, was deemed worthy of a two game suspension.
I’ve changed my opinion on this many times, but I really don’t think that was enough. The thing that bothers me the most is that Petterson didn’t provoke Matheson in any way. All he did was make some beautiful moves around him. Five games AT LEAST is a fair suspension for Matheson.
The original hit was fine, completely legal. It’s the way that he picked him up and threw him to the ice that provoked that suspension. Remember, Matheson isn’t that huge, only 190 pounds, but compared to Elias who is only 177 lbs., he is a giant. What bothers me is that not one single Vancouver Canuck who went after Matheson. I think that proves to the organization that after the Sedin twins left Vancouver, the team lacks that guy who is going to step up to those kind of plays. A grit forward like Matthew Tkachuk is obviously needed on that team.
If I were George Parros, president of the NHL department of safety, I would suspend him 6 games, plus a 500K fine. Even though hockey is a violent sport, stuff like that should not be tolerated, as Matheson knows that this is a 19 year old, and hits to the head like that could be very harmful down the road. I really loved Travis Green’s interview after the game, which Vancouver won 3-2.
“The league’s trying to protect the good, young players and that’s just a dirty play” said coach Travis Green postgame. It is also appalling that there was NO penalty on the play. That’s an ejection from the game for sure. Does anyone remember last year, when the Flames were playing the Avalanche, and Gaudreau got ejected for arguing a terrible penalty!? Now someone makes a very dirty play and there’s no call! First the goalie interference and now this! What is the NHL coming to?
Bottom line, I don’t like the way the NHL handled this, and I hope the NHL starts protecting our young players with bright futures. But don’t listen to me, I’m just a ten year old aspiring GM.
Leave a comment on if you think the league handled this well.
See you next week,
Johnny