Analyst puts Vlasic in a pickle
Shark disputes charge he embellished on high-sticking call that led to winning goal
RALEIGH, N.C. » Marc-Edouard Vlasic addressed his accusers Thursday, and hewas not happy.
“I don’t know why we’re even talking about this — he hit me in the helmet,” the Sharks’ defenseman said. “Because Dreger and Mike Fisher decide to say something they’re right? It’s funny, when you’re sitting far away, you think you know the game.
“I don’t have to defendmyself. It hit the visor.”
Wednesday, on the heels of the Sharks’ 5- 4 win over the Nashville Predators, TSN analyst Darren Dreger suggested via Twitter that Vlasic be added to the NHL’s embellishment list for drawing a questionable high- sticking penalty that led to the game-winning goal. Dreger, a highly-respected Canadian reporter, included a Tweet from former Predators forward Mike Fisher that showed a slowmotion video of the play in question. In the video, Vlasic ducks and grabs his face after Viktor Arvidsson’s stick waved past his
head.
The NHL introduced the embellishment list during the 2014-15 season as a public-shaming tool to discourage players from diving or flopping in an effort to draw a penalty.
Sharks coach Pete DeBoer, who holds two law degrees, made a better case in defense of Vlasic than the defendant himself did. Instead of repeating Vlasic’s claim that stick hit his helmet — a claim that is being challenged by video — DeBoer introduced Vlasic’s medical history.
“I don’t think for one minute that it was embellishment,” DeBoer said. “He saw a guy going at full speed in the opposite direction and a stick flashed around his face. When you’ve played, and taken pucks and sticks in the head like “Pickles” has over the years, that’s a natural reaction.
“You don’t get a lot of those in the TV or radio booth,” he said, a pointed jab at Dreger.
No one could blame Vlasic for being jumpy with a stick in his face. In 201617, he suffered nerve damage and fractures above his upper lip after he took a redirected shot from Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere to the face. On March 17, he left a game against the Vancouver Canucks after getting hit by a shot in the throat area.
Vlasic’s teammate, Logan Couture, supported the defense, saying he has snapped his head back on plays in which his visor was struck by a stick. Additionally, Couture doesn’t think it’s in Vlasic’s character to embellish.
“I’ve played with himfor 10 years and I’ve never sat on the bench and thought, somebody needs to tell Picks to stop diving out there,” the Sharks’ alternate captain said.
Couture and Evander Kane had rushed to their teammate’s defense Wednesday via socialmedia, each responding directly to Dreger. Couture pointed out that Joe Pavelski got called for high-sticking P.K. Subban in Tuesday’s game when the Predators defenseman was actually struck by the stick of a teammate, Ryan Johansen.
“Post that video,” Couture tweeted at Dreger.
Kane wrote: “Missed about 3 other high sticks before that, but hey who’s counting.”
In DeBoer’s opinion, the embellishment list should be used to eliminate egregious flops. Vlasic’s reaction to Arvidsson’s stick is too ambiguous to fall into that category, especially for a player who has managed to play 12 seasons without developing a reputation for being a diver.
If Vlasic had fallen to the ice, the Sharks coach would have been willing to call it embellishment.
“When I think of the word embellishment, I’m thinking of the soccer-game dives,” DeBoer said. “For the most part, we have gotten rid of that. The guys who are historic offenders have been put on notice.”
The play comes at a time when the hockey world is debating whether video review should be used for high sticking and embellishment penalties.
Neither DeBoer nor Couture support that idea.
“You can’t slow the game down with video review on every play,” Couture said Thursday. “Our referees are the best in the world, but they make mistakes. You can’t just pick out one play in a game and complain about it when there’s a lot of other things that happen.”
• DeBoer confirmed that Joe Thornton willmiss his eighth consecutive game with a knee infection when the Sharks play the Carolina Hurricanes tonight.