Kane criticizes ‘flawed system’
Sharks forward says it’s a ‘complete guess’ what is worthy of suspension
Never thought I’d type these words, but good for Evander Kane. Last week, the Sharks’ wing, who as been a bit of a an actor at times in his career, righteously put the Department of Player Safety on blast.
Kane was tagged with a three-game suspension for his elbow on Winnipeg’s Neil Pionk and, no, it wasn’t an egregious suspension. Maybe a game too many, but it wasn’t anything draconian.
But Kane’s Instagram screed surely had a lot of people nodding in a agreement. After the punishment was handed down last week, Kane let loose.
“The fact that the NHL Department of Player Safety headed by George Parros continues to pick and choose who and what they suspend is ridiculous!” Kane began. “There have been countless incidents of the same nature through this season and past seasons that have gone unsuspended or fined. No one person can tell you what is or isn’t a suspension in today’s game, it’s become a complete guess. There is a major lack of consistency with the NHL Department of Player Safety. A completely flawed system in so many ways. From the suspensions to the appeal rights, it’s baffling to me how we as players agreed to this. You can’t give some players a pass and throw the book at others. There has to be (an) outside third party making these decisions to remove the bias that transpires in this department headed by George Parros. None of it makes any sense.”
The league does not like its players criticizing it or its officials. Montreal coach Claude Julien just got hit with a $10,000 fine for his rip job on the on-ice officials after the Canadiens’ overtime loss to Dallas. Interestingly, there has been no fine for Kane’s online outburst, at least not yet. Perhaps the league does not want to bring any more attention to it. Nothing to see here folks, move along.
The lack of consistency from the DoPS has been maddening for a while, and we’ve seen it plenty here in Boston. Just a couple of weeks ago, Jeremy Lauzon
was given a match penalty and then a two-game suspension for his high hit on Arizona’s Derek Stepan. Fine. But in the same game, an equally dangerous hit from Lawson Crouse on Charlie McAvoy only earned a twominute minor and no suspension. The league has not been shy about sitting down David Backes for head shots. But when Backes was deserving of equal justice and protection under the law — namely, when Edmonton’s Matt Benning concussed Backes with a clear head shot in November 2018 — the Oiler defenseman skated.
And, yes, you can be sure Kane, Tom Wilson or any grinder was wondering if he would have just gotten a $5,000 fine if he’d applied the same crosscheck to the clavicle that Zdeno Chara
gave to Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher.
What to do about it? Well, the third-party solution that Kane brought up is interesting. Perhaps a joint body formed by league and NHLPA representatives could bring about more consistent outcomes. It might also help if the decisions NOT to suspend were explained as publicly as the decisions to suspend and fine are.
Granted, the league reviews every questionable hit and there would be long stream of explanations on NHL.com and in our inboxes. But it would be better than the crickets we get now on the passes that are doled out. And having to explain themselves either way would force whoever sits as the judge to be more transparent, which is desperately needed.
Leafs safe, for now
Whether this kind of performance is sustainable or not, the Maple Leafs produced their best game of the year when they could afford nothing less. Panic in Leafs Nation was at all-time high last week, and that’s saying something. First they lost in Buffalo — never a good thing, especially when many of their more raucous fans who are priced out of games in Toronto make the trek across the Peace Bridge — and then appeared to be thoroughly outclassed in a 5-2 loss in Pittsburgh.
A return match with the surging Penguins in Toronto had all the makings of a soulsucking, season-defining loss. But after a week of coach Sheldon Keefe and battle-tested defenseman Jake Muzzin delivering the appropriate self-flagellating quotes, the Leafs actually walked the walk in a dominant 4-0 win. While struggling goalie Freddy Andersen was needed to shut down a first period Pitt power play, the skaters took over from there, outworking the usually tenacious Pens to the finish line.
Where does it go from here? Who knows? After facing a desperate Carolina team on Saturday, they’re traveling to Tampa on Tuesday. Not ideal conditions to keep the ball rolling if they don’t keep their work boots on. But if the Leafs start following the lead of players like Muzzin, they might — we stress, might — have a chance of turning the corner from being a one-and-done to being an actual contender. And while Bruins fans love, love, love to mock the Leafs, the fact of the matter is that the B’s needed all the stars to align for them to survive Toronto and its formidable group of young, high end talent these past two years.
If the two teams meet again in April, don’t expect it to suddenly become easy for the B’s.
Odds and ends
We’ve learned not to count out the Columbus Blue Jackets but, as we suspected, it’s going to be a tough road for CBJ without All-Star defenseman Seth Jones, who is out for an extended period following ankle surgery. Since he was hurt on Feb. 8 in a game against Colorado, the Jackets have not won a game (0-3-4). They’d maintained their wild card spot headed into the weekend thanks to picking up some loser points, but the loss of Jones could be the fatal blow to their playoff chances. And for good measure, they lost winger Oliver Bjorkstrand to a broken ankle late in their loss to the Flyers on Thursday. Ouch…
Speaking of the Leafs, the trade that sent still promising bottom-sixer Denis Malgin to Toronto and AHL journeyman Mason Marchment to the Panthers is a bit strange. It looks now like a minor deal and it may turn out to be just that. Still, it was a bit strange to see it. The Leafs and Panthers are in direct competition with each other for the third spot in the Atlantic Division. The Leafs were desperate for bottom six help and now one of their chief competitors has given some of it to them….
Some national media types keep linking the Bruins with Ilya Kovalchuk, but his play recently is demonstrating why GM Don Sweeney passed on the bargain basement deal in the first place. After a promising start that gave the Canadiens some life, they lost five straight before pulling out an OT win in Washington over the struggling Caps. Kovalchuk’s stat line in those half dozen games? 0-0-0.
There is usually a reason players are a bargain — something to remember as Monday’s 3 p.m. trade deadline approaches.