04/30/23: Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told reporters today, including the Seattle Times’ Geoff Baker, that Cogliano would miss the rest of the playoffs due to the fracture of the C5 vertebrae in his neck.
It’s a major loss for the Avalanche penalty kill, and while Colorado is undoubtedly fixated on tonight’s Game Seven, the organization’s greater priority is likely helping Cogliano, a veteran of over 1,200 NHL games, recover from this gruesome injury and return to full health.
04/29/23: Although the play will reportedly not result in any suspension being handed out, due to the hit from behind from forward Jordan Eberle of the Seattle Kraken in Game Six, Andrew Cogliano will be out indefinitely for the Colorado Avalanche with a fractured neck. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Cogliano has fractured his C5 vertebrae, which are towards the top of the spinal cord structure.
It is unknown whether the Department of Player Safety was in the know of the damage done to Cogliano on the hit, but given the context of this series, it will likely raise a host of questions surrounding the supplemental discipline being handed out in this year’s playoffs. Although the context surrounding this hit was different, Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar received a one-game suspension for Game Five due to his hit on Kraken forward Jared McCann, who was also injured on that play.
Becoming a theme that has begun to sound like a broken record to this point, the Avalanche will once again lose team depth due to injury. Already without Gabriel Landeskog, Josh Manson, Darren Helm, and Valeri Nichushkin (personal reasons), the Avalanche will be without some very important players as they look to close out the Kraken in Game Seven.
This has all the makings of one of the worst crap-called playoff seasons in years. Every series has had blatant missed calls, made worse by either a proper response from Parros & Company at DoP(e)S, or a “suspension ignored” verdict … this post just interrupted by Bonesy & Ralphie commenting on said department about yet another controversial hit. ‘Nuff said. Maybe Bettman should realize that bad publicity is not good for the league’s image.
It was a pretty egregious hit wasn’t it?
The league like to say that those hits from behind have no place in the game, but then they are going to ignore this?
At a certain point the players don’t even know what is or isn’t allowed. Inconsistencies like this are going to have a negative impact on the game in the long term.
@M34 – A commercial on TSN 1050 just gave me an idea. Ship Cambell & The Peterborough Maffia, Bettman, and Parros off on a Norwegian Cruise Line trip for a few…years. Then, the “substitute teacher” can come in and set things straight.
Like Makar, I think Eberle immediately regretted the hit. Like Makar, he should sit for one game.
@mattc68 – Agreed. Generally speaking, neither of those players has a reputation for dirty hits, but mistakes occasionally happen.
If Makar’s hit warranted a game this deserves at least 1 if not 2.
Agree with much of what has been commented here with the exception being that this hit would deserve more than Makar’s. Reasoning being simply proximity to puck and active play. Ebs made a bad check in an active play, Makar smashed a dude against the boards far from the puck. Doesn’t seem “fair” if you’re Cogliano… or
anyone else in the league. It’s like they have a roulette wheel they use to decide suspensions: one game for evens, two games for odds, three games for 00. Sorry, Toronto, congrats Minnesota!
Hits were different with regards to potential for serious injury, yet somehow the one resulting in a broken neck brought zero discipline.
Remember Cogliano and Eberle were linemates, not just teammates for a solid while in Edmonton before they went different ways. That may have had something to do with Eb’s show of remorse for the hit too.
Might also be why he drove him into the boards, not all teammates are Buddy Buddy. Regardless of remorse there should be consequences for wrongful deeds and this one warranted a suspension.
No suspension?!!!!
Gee why? The hit he took was only a minor penalty? NHL officials are the worst in pro sports. All the other leagues have made improvements. The NHL still operates in the 80s with clueless GMs and old time Canadian hockey diehards who think the game is great. Yeah it’s so great the XFL is close to outdrawing it in the USA.
Not sure where you get your numbers but what I could find from the Google machine the NHL averages 1.1M viewers per game, the USFL 715K per game, and XFL 655K per. The NHL is not going to lose the viewership war to the XFL anytime soon.
I don’t think those XFL numbers account for streaming, which probably doubles their viewership numbers.
That would count for the NHL and USFL too.