The NHL issued a three-game suspension to Edmonton Oilers celebrity Connor McDavid this week for cross-checking Vancouver Canucks ahead Conor Garland late of their recreation this weekend.
McDavid was offended after he had been tackled to the ice and held down by Garland — with no penalty referred to as — because the Oilers have been trying to tie the sport.
On Tuesday night time, the Oilers determined to challenge a really weird — and comparatively pointless — assertion relating to the suspension.
“The Oilers group is disillusioned and we share in our followers’ frustration over the three-game suspension of our captain Connor McDavid. We assist him by way of this course of and the group and our followers stay up for having him again within the lineup vs. Seattle subsequent week.”
This isn’t the kind of assertion a staff usually makes following a suspension. It nearly looks like an announcement only for the sake of constructing an announcement and feeding into the followers’ anger.
Particularly when it was a fairly justified suspension the place McDavid took exception to the dearth of a penalty, took issues into his personal arms and delivered an affordable shot.
There’s additionally not a course of to assist him by way of. He was punished, he’s not interesting and he’ll return to the lineup in just a few video games.
There’s a very actual dialogue available relating to the NHL, its officiating and the way in which it treats star gamers. Whereas leagues just like the NFL and NBA exit of their method to cater to their finest gamers and defend their finest gamers, the NHL tends to do the precise reverse and expects its star gamers to struggle by way of much more. McDavid ought to have drawn a penalty on the play. He ought to in all probability draw extra penalties than he does, and if the NHL cared about highlighting its finest gamers, there could be extra consistency in that space.
The dearth of a penalty, nevertheless, doesn’t give any participant the fitting or freedom to ship a cross-check to an opponent’s face.
He has each proper to be pissed off. The NHL’s star gamers have a proper to be pissed off with how they’re handled. However the suspension is justified.
Regardless of the Oilers’ unusual assertion, McDavid has determined to take a distinct strategy. He broke silence on the matter and provided sage recommendation on the matter — and the Oilers could be sensible to observe swimsuit.
