BENNING SUSPENDS HIS DISBELIEF AS LEAF AVOIDS EXTRA PUNISHMENT
‘Everybody … agrees it was predatory’ — except for the league, Ben Kuzma writes.
Forget that tampering fine. This one would have been worth a major rant, and worth every penny.
Jim Benning now measures his words when asked to comment on rival players — even free agents he can speak freely of — because that US$50,000 fine the Vancouver Canucks general manager received in late June for expressing interest in players under contract was more than a finger wave or a wrist slap from the National Hockey League.
However, the lack of action by the NHL department of player safety after Nazem Kadri’s predatory and arguably targeted hit on Daniel Sedin on Saturday in Toronto is something else.
It’s a kick in the jollies. For Benning, it’s worth going off the deep end and willingly accepting a fine to stand up for his players.
Losers of eight straight games and the subject of too many bad jokes — despite their resolve in what became fight night in a 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs Saturday — the Canucks could have taken their us-against-the-world mantra to another level by showing the league their middle finger. Of course, they couldn’t. “That doesn’t do anybody any good to go down that road,” Benning said. “Everybody who has seen the hit agrees it was predatory. I don’t know what to say. I look back at our own suspensions and they were late hits — Alex Burrows on (Alexei) Emelin (three games, October 2014) and Jake Virtanen on (Roman) Polak (two games, this March) and I don’t know if those players were in such a vulnerable position as Daniel. He could have been hurt bad for a long time.”
The Canucks issued this initial response Sunday: “We disagree and are very disappointed. However, we must accept it and put it behind us.”
Don’t read too much into it. You know they wanted to say more but couldn’t — not publicly, anyway.
“I was on the phone all morning arguing our case,” Benning said. “We’re lucky because the way he fell, he could have been injured for a long time.
“The ruling we got is that it wasn’t a late hit and from their
(league’s) perspective, it wasn’t a hit to the head. But it was a player who could have held back for making that type of hit. We’ll have to live with it.”
The NHL was all about blindside hits and shifted its focus to predatory hits that target the head — which is a catch-22. Targeted hits usually come from behind because if they don’t, a confronted player can at least attempt to avoid the collision.
“A year ago, the ruling was changed and no longer states blind-side hits,” Benning said. “It’s more hits to the head and we were told Kadri’s was shoulder to shoulder and didn’t target the head.”
Regardless of what take you’ve heard or believe, here’s the bottom line: Kadri was assessed a charging major for running the Canucks winger from behind, and even if the Maple Leafs centre initially grazed Sedin’s shoulder, he followed through with such force that the winger’s helmet popped off and his head bounced off the ice.
Daniel went through mandatory concussion protocol and returned to the bench, which is what you expect from a Sedin. They suck it up, and they usually shut up, unless something warrants a response. This did.
“It was a textbook terrible hit,” Henrik Sedin said. “And it was not fun to watch. It will be interesting to see how many games (Kadri) gets. He has a history. He plays over the edge. That’s when you have to pay.
“The league has to step up and show that’s not something we want to see.”
Added Daniel Sedin: “It was pretty clear-cut east-west and that (hit) is a tough one. It was pretty easy to see on TV.”
The optics of the hit and the ruling are disturbing. Had Daniel not returned to the game and had we been told Sunday that the winger might be out week-toweek with concussion symptoms or another ailment, you have to wonder how all this would be handled. You often get the impression that the league rules on the result, not the act itself. When Duncan Keith elbowed Daniel in the head in March 2012, the Chicago Blackhawks defenceman received a five-game suspension because Daniel was out for a month with a concussion.
Let’s cut to the chase. They are predatory hits and star players are often targeted. That can’t be argued.
“I’m concerned about it,” Benning said.
He should be.