NHL cracking down

George Parros is a busy man early in the Stanley Cup playoffs thanks to a rash of questionable hits around the NHL.

The vice president of player safety’s department has already suspended Kings defenseman Drew Doughty for an illegal check to the head against Golden Knights forward William Carrier. Parros will likely dole out further discipline to Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri for boarding the Bruins’ Tommy Wingels.

With two misconduct ejections for boarding that resulted in injuries and Capitals winger Tom Wilson’s hit to the head that knocked Blue Jackets center Alexander Wennberg out of the game, it has been a rough start to the playoffs — and there have only been eight games played. In 1,271 regular-season games, there were a total of 37 game misconducts and 22 suspensions.

Carrier and Wennberg are day to day with “upperbody” injuries — the customarily vague description in the NHL — but their statuses are legitimately uncertain moving forward.

Kadri was tossed from the Maple Leafs’ Game 1 loss in Boston and could miss Game 2 on Saturday.

“I certainly wasn’t trying to hit him when he was down,” Kadri said after Thursday night’s game. “If he’s still standing, I think there’s nothing wrong with that. But he ended up falling and reaching for the puck, and I’m not sure what happened after that.”

Down the East Coast, Wilson’s hit on Wennberg allowed the Blue Jackets to tie the score in a game they won in overtime.

“I’ve got to be better and maybe pass up that hit,” Wilson said. “We’ve got the lead there, so maybe a big hit’s not needed.”

Parros spent almost a decade as an NHL enforcer and finished his career with 159 fights and 1,127 penalty minutes. When he took over the league’s player safety department last September, Parros said he intended to crack down on “non-hockey plays” that have nothing to do with affecting the course of the game.

The NHL has made a concerted effort to rid its game of fighting and questionable hits, wanting to keep skilled players on the ice and boost scoring.