League to review ‘ugly’ hit
McGrattan gets game misconduct in incident
Brian McGrattan has rarely — if ever — been the subject of conversation at the National Hockey League’s department of player safety.
However, in the next few days, the Calgary Flames winger could be hearing from Brendan Shanahan regarding an incident in the first period of Sunday’s 2-0 loss to the visiting Vancouver Canucks.
With 2:43 elapsed in the opening frame, Canucks defenceman Andrew Alberts had just finished playing the puck in Vancouver’s zone when McGrattan attempted to check Alberts.
When they collided, McGrattan’s arm rode up and clipped Alberts in the head/face area.
Immediately, Alberts went down on the ice and was attended to by a team trainer.
“It was an ugly incident,” said Vancouver Canucks forward Jannik Hansen. “You definitely don’t want to see that happen.”
The Canucks blueliner did not return for the remainder of the game and, according to the team, was to be evaluated further.
Immediately following the incident, McGrattan fought Tom Sestito and received a five-minute fighting major, a five-minute elbowing major and game misconduct.
“Grants went in and he went to hit him,” said Flames head coach Bob Hartley. “The referees told me first that they thought there was an elbow. I think the replay is pretty clear on this. But like any other play, the league will review it and we’ll see.”
Flames acting general manager Brian Burke declined to comment on the incident and McGrattan was not made available to comment after the game.
During his nine seasons, 268 games, and 69 fights in the NHL, the 32-year-old McGrattan has never received an NHL suspension.
“That’s a guy who plays extremely hard but plays within the rules,” said Flames defenceman Chris Butler. “He’s not a guy going out there and giving cheap-shots to guys. He’s not going after players, he’s not trying to hurt anybody. He’s an honest player. He always has been.
“I hope, for his sake, (the NHL) realizes that and nothing happens to him.”
In actuality, the Flames have been quiet on the suspension front in the last few seasons.
The last time a Calgary player was suspended was Rene Bourque who received five games for elbowing Nicklas Backstrom on Jan. 3. Bourque, of course, was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for Michael Cammalleri on Jan. 12.