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Edmonton’s Jujhar Khaira Suspended Two Games For Cross Checking

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The decision was prompt by the Department of Player Safety and Edmonton Oilers forward Jujhar Khaira will now take a seat. Player Safety announced a hearing with Khaira this afternoon and apparently already had time to meet with the winger and make their decision already. The department has now announced a two-game suspension for Khaira for cross checking, stemming from an incident with St. Louis Blues defenseman Vince Dunn last night.

In the third period of Tuesday night’s contest, Dunn and Khaira went back and forth in front of the St. Louis net following a hard, but legal check by Khaira in the corner. Dunn made first contact, appearing to cross check Khaira in the shoulder. For his part, Player Safety already issued Dunn a maximum $1,942.20 fine for cross checking. However, in response, Khaira hit Dunn with a much harder cross check aimed at the head and neck area. In their descriptive video, Player Safety ruled the following:

While Dunn is the first player to deliver a cross check on this play, his cross check does not land as forcefully or directly as the one delivered by Khaira… Illegal actions by one player do not mean that their opponent can retaliate however they see fit. On this play, while Khaira is justifiably angered by Dunn’s illegal and unnecessary response to a legal hit, raising his arms to head level and delivering a sharp, forceful blow to his opponent’s head with his stick is not excusable.

This is Khaira’s first incidence of supplemental discipline, somewhat impressively given his hallmark physical style. However, the optics on this cross check did not work in his favor, as the shot to Dunn was far worse than the one he received himself. A two-game suspension is well within the realm of a reasonable response by player safety. Khaira will now miss the next two match-ups for the Oilers, as they continue their home stand against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday and the Vancouver Canucks next Thursday. Khaira is seventh in scoring for Edmonton, fifth among forwards, and his production will be missed in addition to his checking game while he sits for a week.

New Lawsuit Creates More Doubt Around Ottawa Arena Deal

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Yesterday in Ottawa, the National Capital Commission (NCC) went public with concerns over “internal partnership issues” within RendezVous LeBreton Group, a venture between Capital Sports Management Inc. (CSMI), a group headed by Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, and Trinity Development Group Inc., chaired by John Ruddy. Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson called out the group quite bluntly, saying that “they have to get their act together” before any potential development plan could be pushed forward surrounding the LeBreton Flats area near downtown Ottawa. The RendezVous group was trying to build a new arena for the Senators along with other commercial ventures in the space, but haven’t been able to put together a concrete development plan.

The NCC gave the group until early January to find some internal consistency, but that deadline does not seem relevant after today’s news. According to the Canadian Press, Melnyk and CSMI have started legal proceedings against Ruddy’s company and are “seeking damages arising out of a failed joint venture between Trinity and CSMI.” According to Shaamini Yogaretnam of the National Post, the lawsuit is claiming $700MM in damages and alleges that Trinity “misused confidential inside information about the LeBreton project and abused the trust (CSMI) had placed in them.”

While the news yesterday from the NCC put a huge wall in the way of a downtown arena, this lawsuit may have both parties walking away from each other entirely. The project seems almost certainly to be over, though no one has issued a statement to that exact effect as of yet. The Senators currently play outside the city center at an arena that is difficult for many fans to travel to, and have been attempting various means of moving closer to downtown for years.

Melnyk, who has been outspoken about the team’s poor financial situation in the past, is at the middle of this next unfortunate chapter in the Senators search for a new home. The owner has repeatedly claimed to not be interested in selling the franchise, even as immense pressure from the fan base builds after their plummet in recent seasons. Ottawa was in overtime of Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals just a year an a half ago, but have seemingly found nothing but disaster at every turn since Chris Kunitz scored to send the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Josh Archibald To Receive Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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The league’s Department of Player Safety has been awfully busy this season, and have more work to do today. Arizona Coyotes forward Josh Archibald will have a hearing about his illegal check to the head last night of Nashville Predators forward Ryan Hartman. Archibald was penalized on the play, in which it appeared as though he hit Hartman’s head directly.

The two-minute penalty that Archibald received was actually his first of the season, and though he’s not a player that shies away from contact he certainly isn’t a headhunter either. The 5’10” 176-lbs winger is just fighting to stay in the league after he was traded to Arizona last season and was given his first opportunity to suit up on a regular basis. In nine games this season he has zero points, and has posted very poor possession numbers.

That makes any suspension easier to take for the Coyotes, but tough for a player who has a tenuous grasp on the NHL. The 26-year old is in the second season of a two-year contract that carries a cap hit of $700K, and will be looking for a qualifying offer this summer as he becomes a restricted free agent for the final time—that is, if he gets into another 18 games and becomes ineligible for Group VI unrestricted free agency.

NHL Reaches Tentative Settlement In Concussion Lawsuit

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The NHL has been involved in a long-standing lawsuit with a group of nearly 150 former players over their treatment of concussions and today has reached a tentative settlement to resolve the issue and avoid any further court proceedings. The NHL admits no liability in the settlement, which may approach a total of $19MM.

The majority of the proposed settlement would go toward medical care and monitoring rather than directly to the former players, which the leagues calls a “fair and reasonable resolution… in the parties’ respective best interests” and which several players’ attorneys stated was the main focus of the lawsuit. This includes the coverage of neurological testing and assessment, as well as a $75,000 fund for future treatment for those players who test positive on two or more relevant tests. Each player involved in the lawsuit will also receive a minimum $22,000 cash payment. The settlement additionally establishes a common fund of upwards of $2.5MM from which retired players mat draw upon in the future.

This lawsuit and subsequent settlement draws many comparisons to a similar suit filed by NFL players. The NFL recently settled a lawsuit brought by former players in regards to concussions and CTE. It will cost the league more than $1 billion dollars over the next 65 years, but covers more than 20,000 players. Many will see this settlement result for the NHL as relatively inexpensive, as they did for the NFL. Both leagues had the benefit of a major causation problem, wherein the players could not possibly prove that their concussion-related health issues were due to injuries sustained in the respective leagues as opposed to high school and college football for the NFL and junior, college, and minor league hockey for the NHL. This idea lends itself the the NHL’s continued reluctance to admit to any liability and instead try to frame their position as a good will gesture. The NHL also reached their settlement further along in the legal process, after the case had already been determined to fall short of class-action designation. This gave the NHL further leverage over the players and an advantage that the NFL did not enjoy.

While the early reactions to the settlement seem positive from both sides, not everyone involved will be happy. One outspoken member already is Daniel Carcillo, who took to Twitter to encourage his fellow players involved in the lawsuit not to accept the settlement. Carcillo believes that the NHL is in fact liable for concussion-related issues and that the doctors who will conduct testing and determine further treatment for the players are the same ones that he alleges ignored concussions in the first place. It remains to be seen whether Carcillo will be able to sway any others. Each player may opt in to the settlement individually during a 75-day window, but the NHL holds an option of their own to terminate the settlement with all players if any decide to opt out.

This tentative settlement is a major step forward in the NHL’s concussion lawsuit and will set a major precedent for concussion care in hockey and beyond. However, there is still a ways to go in this case and this is likely not the last we have heard of this ongoing issue.

Brendan Lemieux Suspended Two Games For Illegal Check

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The decision has been made on Winnipeg Jets forward Brendan Lemieux. The Department of Player Safety has suspended Lemieux for two games following his illegal check to the head of Florida Panthers forward Vincent Trocheck. Lemieux delivered a check almost exclusively to the head of Trocheck, and was given a match penalty for the contact in addition to the fighting major he earned after MacKenzie Weegar initiated a fight. As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that the head is clearly the main point of contact on this hit, and that the head contact on this hit was avoidable. While Trocheck is playing the puck, he does not materially change the position of his head or body just prior to contact in a way that contributes to the head being the main point of contact on this hit. If Lemieux wants to deliver this check, he must take an angle of approach that hits through Trocheck’s shoulder and core rather than picking his head and making it the main point of contact.

Lemieux, 22, hasn’t faced any previous disciplinary action from the DoPS, but that’s not saying a lot considering his NHL career is just 18 games old. The 31st-overall pick from the 2014 draft, he was traded by the Buffalo Sabres as part of the Evander Kane deal several years ago and has racked up 328 penalty minutes in 125 AHL games. Though his physical play is encouraged and a big part of his game, there will be increased punishments by the league if he continues to engage in dangerous hits like this.

Trocheck returned to the game and finished with 19 minutes of ice time, luckily escaping a major injury. The Panthers aren’t back in action until Thursday, giving him some extra time to recover from any ill effects. Lemieux meanwhile will miss at least a week, given that the Jets don’t play again until Friday. He will be eligible to return to the lineup on Wednesday, November 14th.

Mark Borowiecki To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. After serving a one-game suspension just last week, Ottawa Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki could be facing more discipline from the Department of Player Safety. He’ll have a hearing with the league today after his illegal check to the head of Cody Eakin last night. This time, unlike his prior incident, the on-ice officials did penalize him, as Borowiecki was given a five-minute major and was ejected from the game.

Borowiecki’s recent suspension was for an elbow to the head of Urho Vaakanainen, a connection that he claimed was incidental as he was trying to defend his goaltender’s crease. The league, even while accepting that defense, still issued a suspension and stated that it was Borowiecki’s responsibility to avoid the forceful blow to the head. Similar arguments may be made in this incident, as the Ottawa defenseman does little to target Eakin’s head but still ends up connecting with it. The league is putting the onus on the checking player to avoid contact with the head, even if it means avoiding the check altogether.

Given the recency of his last suspension, it’s very likely that the league comes down hard on Borowiecki if they deem the hit worthy of supplementary discipline. As they’ve made clear with Tom Wilson’s 20-game suspension, the DoPS does not want to investigate incidents with the same players on a regular basis and will hand out a hefty ban to try and discourage that type of play. Even commissioner Gary Bettman, in his recent ruling to uphold the Wilson suspension wrote:

One true and fundamental test of effective discipline is whether the discipline is of sufficient strength and impact that it has the effect of deterring the Player being disciplined from repeating the same or similar conduct in the future. 

While the two Borowiecki incidents aren’t exactly the same, he was also suspended for boarding Tyler Toffoli in 2016 and is now under intense scrutiny. He may need to change the way he plays slightly to avoid plays like this, even if he had no intent of injuring Eakin. On big open ice hits, there is always a chance that the player’s head is a main point of contact, causing injuries the league desperately wants to reduce.

NHL Grants Suspended Tom Wilson “Non-Roster Player” Status

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The Washington Capitals activated defenseman Michal Kempny from the injured reserve today, but it’s what they didn’t do that’s making headlines. The Capitals made no corresponding move after adding Kempny to the roster, presumably leaving them with more than the CBA-allotted 23 roster players. How this was possible sent reporters scrambling for information. What they found was both surprising and potentially dangerous.

It turns out that the Capitals had not exceeded the roster limit, as suspended forward Tom Wilson had been granted “non-roster player” status. CapFriendly relays the information from the Washington Post’s Isabelle Khurshudyan, while adding some context to what that label means. A “non-roster player” does not count against the roster, allowing the Capitals to activate Kempny by discounting Wilson. The CBA states that “non-roster player” status must be specifically granted by the Commissioner  and it is reserved for special instances of non-injury absence. Among the examples given are the birth of a child or bereavement. Notably not present is suspension and there is little precedent for suspended players being placed on this list. Granted, a suspension is a non-injury absence, but use of the “non-roster” exemption begs the question of whether teams should share in the punishment of a suspension.

Wilson’s 20-game suspension for yet another illegal check, this time to the head of St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist in the preseason, is obviously a blow to Capitals. They won’t have their menacing power forward for the first quarter of the season, perhaps when they need him most as the defending Stanley Cup champs who everyone wants to play hard against. Yet, shouldn’t Washington also bear the weight of one of their regular players being worthy of such as suspension? Why should the team that employs a frequent offender be given a roster exemption and added flexibility while he remains out? The San Jose Sharks were given this same treatment when Raffi Torres was suspended for half of the 2015-16 season, CapFriendly reports, so the league is seemingly comfortable with using the “non-roster player” exemption for suspensions, but there are certainly reasons that they shouldn’t be.

The next question is where do they draw the line? It seems that the NHL is heading down a slippery slope by using this exemption for suspensions and could be setting a dangerous precedent. Case in point: the Capitals are enjoying Wilson’s “non-roster” status through 20 games for a dirty hit, whereas the Vegas Golden Knights have seemingly not been afforded the same luxury for defenseman Nate Schmidt’s 20-game suspension for a failed drug test on little more than a technicality. Why are the two treated differently? Why aren’t all suspended players exempt from the roster limit? The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler opines that the NHL has gone “down the rabbit hole” with this decision and now nothing is stopping every team from requesting a “non-roster player” exemption for each and every suspension. The league simply can’t go case-by-case and assign “non-roster” status behind the scenes. A can of worms has been opened and a blanket policy on the “non-roster player” status of suspended players seems to be the only solution.

Tom Wilson Suspended Twenty Games

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The NHL Department of Player Safety has made a statement. Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson has been suspended for twenty games following his illegal check to the head of St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist. The league has clearly had enough of the repeat offender ending up involved in incidents like this, and will have him sit for nearly a quarter of the season. As the accompanying video explains:

Players who repeatedly violate league playing rules will be more severely punished for each new violation. Wilson was suspended on three occasions during the 2017-18 NHL season. On September 22nd, 2017 he was suspended for a late, high hit on Robert Thomas. Just two preseason games later, Wilson was again suspended, this time for boarding Samuel Blais. Seven months later, Wilson was suspended for an illegal check to the head of Zach Aston-Reese. This hit on Sundqvist occurred in only his 16th game since his last suspension, which was also for an illegal check to the head.

In short, including preseason and postseason games played, this is Wilson’s fourth suspension in his last 105 games—an unprecedented frequency of suspensions in the history of the Department of Player Safety.

Wilson will forfeit more than $1.26MM in salary for this suspension, though many are already expecting an appeal or grievance from the NHLPA. If it’s not shortened, Wilson will be out until the Capitals face the Chicago Blackhawks on November 21st.

Ottawa Senators Hire Peter MacTavish As Assistant General Manager

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The Ottawa Senators have found a replacement for Assistant General Manager Randy Lee, who split with the team following his pending legal issues. The team has hired Peter MacTavish as his replacement, starting October 1st. MacTavish has a legal background and has worked at length with CAA Hockey, the agency led by Pat Brisson and J.P. Barry.

The Senators have had a difficult offseason to say the least, with personal problems percolating in the dressing room, legal troubles in the front office and the dark cloud of an Erik Karlsson trade that only just released its weather in the last few days. Lee’s resignation was only a small part of a summer that could potentially set the franchise back, but MacTavish will his best to right the ship. An expert in contract negotiations and structuring, he’ll be an important piece for a front office that has some big decisions to make over the next few months regarding players like Mark Stone and Matt Duchene who are both scheduled for unrestricted free agency next offseason.

It may look rough in Ottawa right now, but they do have several exciting young players just on the cusp of making an impact at the NHL level and could surprise people with a bounce back season from Craig Anderson. While it looks like they won’t compete for the playoffs in 2018-19, stranger things have happened at the professional level before.

Snapshots: Orpik, Ennis, Bruins-Flames

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While the irony of the situation was clear all along, the assumption was that there was no issue with the Washington Capitals’ trade of Brooks Orpik to Colorado earlier this off-season, the Avalanche’s subsequent buyout of Orpik’s contract, and then the veteran defenseman re-signing with the Caps. However, GM Brian MacLellan told The Associated Press’ Stephen Whyno that the team actually underwent a thorough investigation from the NHL. The league questioned Washington executives about the team’s trade and later signing of Orpik to a lesser salary than the one bought out. It is illegal for a team to re-sign any player they themselves initially bought out, but Orpik was bought out by Colorado. As such, the investigation did not uncover any conspiracy; the league found that the Capitals conducted themselves “above board”, as MacLellan put it. He stated that there would be no further repercussions from what seems to just be an honest coincidence. Whyno reached out to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, who confirmed that the Capitals were cleared of any alleged wrongdoing. The Capitals are now set to save significant cap space on the same services. Had they held on to Orpik this summer, he would be making $5.5MM against the cap. Instead, they were able to sign him to a $1MM deal with incentives that is much kinder to their salary cap crunch. It’s fair to be skeptical of that circumvention, but MacLellan affirms that the team “did everything by the book”, making it simply shrewd business management on their part.

  • One player who wasn’t as fortunate as Orpik following his buyout is forward Tyler Ennis. After injuries forced Ennis out of Buffalo last summer, with the Sabres trading him to the Wild, Minnesota also couldn’t get the former rising star going and bought out the remainder of his contract earlier this summer. Ennis’ value has plummeted so far over the past three seasons that it completely overshadowed the fact that he recorded 212 points in 345 games in the five seasons prior. Ennis could only manage to land a one-year deal worth the minimum salary, a $650K pact with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that only came after a series of meetings with GM Kyle Dubas in which he had to sell himself to the young Toronto executive. Yet, TSN’s Kristen Shilton writes that this has done nothing but motivate Ennis. Speaking with determined veteran at the start of Leafs training camp, Ennis said “Absolutely, I have something to prove. There are a lot of people that doubt me, there are a lot of people that have written me off and I’m just here to show them I have a lot left to give… My goal is to show people that I can play, that I have a lot of talent still and I’m ready to work.” With William Nylander still unsigned and not in camp, Ennis has had the good fortune of filling his spot on a line with Matthews and Patrick Marleau thus far in camp, which is a good way for him to impress the Maple Leafs’ brass. Shilton notes that he has already impressed teammates and coaches alike thus far and could be well on his way to a key role in Toronto this season. It would be quite the rebound story for a player who is correct in his opinion that many people have counted him out, but those same people could soon be forced to change their minds.
  • Believe it or not, the NHL preseason kicks off in just over six hours. The Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames are set to square off in Shenzen, China at the Universiade Sports Center in the first of two match-ups of the 2018 O.R.G. NHL China Games. Despite the odd timing for fans in North America, both the NHL Network and Sportsnet will air the contest, which begins at 2:30 AM Boston time and 12:30 AM Calgary time. For those staying up for the first game of the 2018-19 season, both the Bruins and Flames have released their split squad rosters who have made the trip and will compete in the series. Tonight’s game marks the beginning of Boston’s evaluation of several young forwards fighting for a top-six right wing spot and third-line center spot, while Calgary must determine both who their primary backup goaltender and how the bottom-six will work out.

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