June 4: Speaking with the media today, Scheifele explained that though he had the option to appeal, he has decided not to.
June 3: The Department of Player Safety has reached a verdict in the case of Mark Scheifele, handing out a four-game suspension to the Winnipeg Jets forward. Scheifele will miss games two through five of the Jets’ second-round series against the Montreal Canadiens with his team already down 1-0.
As the accompanying video explains:
Scheifele, moving with excessive momentum gained from travelling a considerable distance, finishes his check violently and with excessive force into Evans, making significant head contact in the process and causing an injury.
The league also acknowledged Scheifele’s argument that the distance was travelled with the idea of trying to break up Jake Evans’ empty-net goal attempt but felt that him not attempting to make a play on the puck meant that he was conceding the goal, leading to the following:
Instead, it is apparent to our department that his intention on this play is to deliver a hard, violent check to an opponent with the outcome of both the play and the game already having been decided. In short, this is a player who has travelled a considerable distance, is moving with exceptional speed, and is fully aware of his momentum who chooses to charge into a vulnerable opponent with a high, predatory hit that causes an injury.
The incident occurred at the very end of the game as Evans scored a game-clinching empty-net goal, and resulted in the Canadiens’ forward lying on the ice unconscious. Evans was eventually stretchered off the ice but did not require hospitalization. According to Montreal head coach Dominique Ducharme, the young forward (who turned 25 last night) suffered a concussion but is recovering.
For Scheifele, it means that he will miss a good chunk of this series should the Jets fail to come out victorious without their star center. Now 28, he recorded his fifth consecutive point-per-game campaign in 2020-21, scoring 63 in 56 during the regular season. In the first-round sweep against the Edmonton Oilers, Scheifele recorded five points but was kept completely off the board by Phillip Danault and company last night.
He received a five-minute major and game misconduct for the hit on Evans and also did not have a history of supplementary discipline. Still, he’ll now miss four games in the North Division deciding series.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the suspension.
W
More than I thought he would of gotten.. maybe NHL doesn’t want retaliation by Habs players…
Comments cut off,lol
You spelled zero wrong.
@Dave – What have I told you about doing my job? :)
Should be 2 games max
So is it 2 games or 4 games? Story says both things.
@hersch – Four games, also corroborated by NHL.com article.
Thank you Mac for the clarification
It’s weird how people think this should either be 0 games or an insane amount. Think league was stuck between a rock and a hard place with this one. Don’t see anything wrong with 4 but if this series goes to game 6 it’s certainly gonna be interesting
His season is probably done and if it only goes 4 games total he misses one next year… He just had a major brain cramp last night…
Brain cramp is a good description. Not a fan of either team so I had to find a replay to see what all the fuss is about. Been watching hockey for a long long time and if anyone says that was a clean hit then they’re not giving an unbiased opinion. Two things make him guilty as sin: hitting with his elbow to the head and leaving the ice on impact for a more forceful impact. Completely unnecessary hit and it was pretty evident the intent was to inflict pain. Extremely talented play but extremely dumb play. The hit wasn’t any different than what kadri inflicted for his suspension. Four games is a rather fortunate outcome for the Jets. Evans will be dealing with this for a long time.
Meant to say “extremely talented player”
You need to watch the hit again if you think an elbow is involved or that he leaves his feet to produce a tougher hit. His elbow is tucked in until contact and the only reason he leaves his feet is because of contact. He does not launch into the Evans. It was a completely unnecessary hit, but not as disgusting as you are making it out to be. Clearly you are a Canadiens fan.
Unfortunately, too many fans flat out lie about what happens in situations like this. There was no elbow and his skates did not leave the ice until after impact, but don’t think that’s going to stop anyone from declaring it happened anyway.
Exactly, I am not a fan of the Jets or the Habs, but 5 and a game is plenty. It is unfortunate Evans got hurt but IMO Parros is the one who should be suspended. Look no further than his ruling on Reaves crushing Graves head with his knee while prone getting a dirty repeat offender 2 games while giving Scheifele 4 games. Crazy. Probably costs the Jets the series.
This is exactly how I saw it. Well worded Wreckage.
I suspect an appeal is to come.
Wasn’t that bad of a hit
Absolute joke he got anything!!! As someone who has played the game 40+ years, one of the first things taught was to keep your head up at all times because someone will take it off. That being said this is the playoffs where intensity is turned up to the nth degree. We can put up with all this joker poker after the whistle but a good solid check gets him 4 games. This isn’t Timbit hockey where everyone gets a brown ribbon, so sick and tired of every hard hit is now scrutinized. Maybe they should take out body checking all together so no one ever gets hurt again.
I agree with the general sentiment of your post, but I think if Evans wasn’t seriously hurt on the play, this would be much ado about nothing. You’re right about keeping your head up, though. Completely. Just ask Eric Lindros how skating with his head down worked for him.
People will then try to accuse you of blaming the victim, but sometimes the victim deserves some blame. Someone not wearing their seat belt deserves some of the blame when he gets into a car accident and his head goes through the windshield. Someone who decides to enter a construction site without a helmet on and then gets hit in the head with falling debris deserves some of the blame for his injury. The list is extensive. We blame the victim all the time and rightfully so. Just because you’re a victim doesn’t mean you didn’t have a hand in your own misery.
“Back in my day, we gave each other brain damage and we loved it!”
Yes, blame the victim! It’s all Evans’ fault!! He’s the real one to blame! Get the torches and pitchforks and we shall march to the NHLPA office!! How dare they suspend a man for a “clean hit”
I am not starting anything with this comment but what is the difference (I know the boards) but besides the boards is Tom Wilson’s hit on Carlo any different or even Sam Bennett’s charging call that he came from the bench across the ice to hit a Tampa Player …if you are going to take ten strides then coast and hammer someone it’s going to lead to a suspension Scheifele had alot time to figure if he had time to stop the empty net goal then when he didn’t he decided to do damage…We on here do not run the league and we will always disagree on alot of things…it’s like kucherov against CLB a few years back when he admitted he cost the series for his teammates with a suspension and stupid play..but came back stronger and much better..
“Scheifele had alot time to figure if he had time to stop the empty net goal then when he didn’t he decided to do damage.”
This is correct.
Scheifle can deflect slap shots out of the air, don’t tell me he didn’t have time to process that Evans had already scored.
Looking at the video, it doesn’t seem Evans had any idea that Scheifle was coming, likely because he anticipated he would have seen a stick to attempt to stop his wraparound were anyone that close to him.
The giveaway of intent is at the moment that Scheifle might have had a chance to use his stick to stop the goal, he instead moves it behind him in order to coil up for a harder hit.
This was revenge for the goal, not an attempt to stop it.
It’s good that you brought up the Sam Bennett thing because that was exactly what charging is. He came off the bench and went straight after someone to deliver a hit. That’s the spirit of the charging rule right there. Wilson’s hit on Carlo was actually shoulder to chest/shoulder, it was the follow through that got Wilson in trouble. He had his hands up which ended up directly pushing his head into the boards. Really, Carlo had control of the puck and also had his head down on that play. Didn’t even see Wilson coming.
I think Sheifele didn’t realize he couldn’t make it until the last second. He really did almost make it in time, but if you watch that replay, he pulls his stick back right at the end to tuck his arm and went for the hit at that point. He gave up on the poke check, but he was going so fast at that point and it was only clear at the very last second that he was going to be half a second too late. You think he could tell that from center ice? Intent would had to have been clear from the beginning, not one second before the hit. Such intent did not exist.
There’s nothing preventing him from hitting Evans there, but the combination of Evans having his head down and Sheifele contacting his head resulted in an injury. If there’s no injury, we’re probably not talking about this right now.
Yep. Agreed. He couldn’t have been trying to separate the man from the puck. The puck was already in the net.
Four games does feel like alot though, given that he can’t be classified as a repeat offender, and the fact that Reaves only got 2, etc. Etc.
Agree with your statement I wouldn’t want Parros’ job at player safety I would probably not give any suspensions, I love hard played hockey..
Not an Avery fan but he had a great reaction on Twitter.
I never had a strong opinion about Avery. The only thing I remember about him was how he was dancing around in front of Marty Brodeur. He is, however, completely right in his reaction. You have to keep your head UP or this happens to you especially in the playoffs.
I thought it would be 3 games, so not too suprised by this.
As a habs fan i thought he deserved 3 games. From my prospective what hurt him the most was thatthe game was over both in score and time (under a minute) and the injury. The game was signed, sealed and delivered when he hit evans so it accomplishes nothing. Scheifeles savings grace is him bot being a believed dirty player and having no record. I think people really over reacted
Scott Stevens would be proud of that hit
Schefele’s hit was WAY worse than Kadri’s and Kadri got 8 games…. makes total sense. Spare me the repeat offender stuff because again, the hit from Schefele was WAY worse. Either suspensions are based on player safety and intent or they’re not. What a joke.
Classy move truthfully. He knows he made a mistake and owns it by not appealing. Accepts the medicine. Respect him big time, as this was out of character for him.
Agreed. I am a scheifele fan, and think of him as a classy guy. I’m guessing that he knows what he did was wrong, even if he was trying to do something to help his team. It’s unfortunate how it played out and I really doubt that he was trying to concuss the kid, but he also was in the moment and has seen the replay.