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Oskar Sundqvist

St. Louis Blues Making Changes For Game Four

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The St. Louis Blues are down 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final after a thorough drubbing in game three, and will now make some changes to their lineup. Based on the morning skate, the team is expected to welcome back Oskar Sundqvist after serving his one-game suspension while Vince Dunn is also expected to return to the lineup and re-take his spot on the second powerplay unit. Robby Fabbri and Robert Bortuzzo are the expected scratches, while Zach Sanford will move up to the second line beside Ryan O’Reilly and David Perron.

The Blues need to try something after letting game three get out of hand in a 7-2 loss at the hands of the Boston Bruins. The team has never won the Stanley Cup in their history and it has been nearly 50 years since they were even in the finals. They’ll have to find a way to take game four at home or face a nearly insurmountable task for the rest of the series.

Getting Dunn back is a substantial addition however. The 22-year old defenseman has become a dominant force for the team, posting seven points in 16 playoff games while continuing to post impressive possession numbers. Though he isn’t used as much as some of the Blues other more experienced defenders, he provides some punch from the third pairing that Bortuzzo cannot. That kind of offensive upside may be crucial as the team tries to topple Tuukka Rask, who still easily leads the playoffs with a .939 save percentage and is a front runner for the Conn Smythe trophy.

Oskar Sundqvist Suspended For Game Three Of The Stanley Cup Final

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After a hearing earlier today, St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist has been suspended one game for boarding Boston Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk in Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final. The decision was handed down from the NHL Department of Player Safety this evening. A high hit from behind in the first period injured Grzelcyk and he did not return to the game, tilting the ice in St. Louis’ favor as Boston played two-thirds of the game with just five defenders. The Bruins will try to take advantage of karma swinging back in their direction, as the Blues will be without a key checking forward in Game Three.

Player Safety, which had top officials George Parros and Damian Echevarrieta on hand for Game Two, met with Sundqvist this afternoon and took a fair amount of time to make their decision. At the end of the day, the league could not ignore a hit to between the numbers on a defenseless player, even if Sundqvist was not intentionally trying to check Grzelcyk from behind as he played the puck behind his own net:

Sundqvist adjusts his force, then hits (Grzelcyk) forcefully from behind with speed, driving him violently into the glass and causing an injury. This is boarding. It is important to note that the boarding rule places the onus to deliver a legal check on the hitter. Therefore, while we acknowledge that Grzelcyk does adjust his body position in making a play on the puck, he does not do so in a way that absolves Sundqvist of responsibility for the nature of this hit. From the moment Sundqvist hits the bottom of the face-off circle until contact is made, Sundqvist sees nothing but Grzelcyk’s numbers. This is not a situation in which a sudden and unexpected movement by the player receiving the check turns a legal hit into an illegal one at the last moment… Sundqvist has time to react to Grzelcyk’s movements and reacts by cutting back across Grzelcyk’s body. This movement results in a more forceful and direct hit to Grzelcyk’s upper back and head, which then drives Grzelcyk’s head into the glass… Sundqvist chooses to finish his check into his opponent’s back with force. Sundqvist had sufficient time to minimize the force of this hit, avoid the hit entirely, or adjust his course to deliver a legal check.

This is not only the expected result on the play, but also a fair punishment and well-adjudicated by Player Safety. Sundqvist’s lack of any history of supplemental discipline and the fact that playoff games, Stanley Cup games in particular, are worth more than regular season games may have convinced some that he would avoid a suspension. However, the fact that Grzelcyk was hurt on a play that Sundqvist could have avoided in a game that was chippy and physical from the start hurt his case. So too did the fact that officials gave Sundqvist only a minor on a check that should have been deserving of a match penalty and could have evened the odds for the short-handed Bruins. Instead, Sundqvist will now sit for Game Three.

There is no word yet on when Grzelcyk is expected to return to the Boston lineup, but it won’t be for Game Three. NHL.com’s Amalie Benjamin reports that Grzelcyk is considered day-to-day and has entered the league’s concussion protocol. He did not travel with the team to St. Louis and will miss Game Three, but that does not rule out him re-joining Boston for Game Four or later in the series, which will go at least five games and likely longer. In the meantime, John Moore is likely to draw in for Grzelcyk on Saturday night in St. Louis.

Oskar Sundqvist To Receive Hearing From Department Of Player Safety

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The Department of Player Safety has some work to do, as they have announced a hearing for St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist. Late in the first period, Sundqvist hit Matt Grzelcyk behind the Boston Bruins’ net, earning himself a two-minute boarding penalty. Grzelcyk was forced from the game with an injury and taken to hospital for further evaluation.

Sundqvist has been a force for the Blues this postseason, registering nine points and (perhaps more importantly) 63 hits in the 21 games the Blues have played so far. The 25-year old forward has been part of a formidable fourth line alongside Ivan Barbashev and Alex Steen, providing a physical presence while also chipping in offensively. Given that Robert Thomas was held out of game two due to injury already, a suspension for Sundqvist could mean the entrance of Zach Sanford.

The Stanley Cup Final has already proven to be one of the most physical series of these playoffs, with two teams more than willing to engage each other and deliver some huge hits. Unfortunately for St. Louis, it looks like they’ll be forced to play without one of those physical players for game three when they travel home to try and take the early lead.

Reactions To Tom Wilson’s Suspension Reduction

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When a polarizing player like Tom Wilson ends up on the winning side of a suspension appeal, the response from the masses is predictably negative. Wilson’s latest dirty hit, a check to the head of St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, was as bad as any in Wilson’s murky history and few batted an eye at the resulting 20-game suspension. Yet, his appeal’s final stage landed with a neutral arbitrator who took issue with the NHL Department of Player Safety’s use of a multiplier that was not rooted in the Collective Bargaining Agreement nor was it supported by precedent. Just like that, Wilson’s suspension was reduced to 14 games and he is right back on the ice tonight for the Washington Capitals. Unsurprisingly, fans, pundits, and competitors alike are not impressed with the decision:

  • One of the few happy to see Wilson back early is Washington GM Brian MacLellan and even he is treading carefully on the subject. MacLellan sat down with NHL.com’s Dan Rose and made it clear that Wilson has to change his game if he wants to stay on the ice. “We’ve talked about it numerous times,” MacLellan said, “there are certain hits that he just has to stop trying… He’s going to have to avoid some hits and he’s going to have to let up on some hits also. You can’t have the same force because he hits hard and it looks bad, and sometimes he’s going to be evaluated on the force.” For MacLellan and the Caps – who signed Wilson to a massive six-year, $31MM contract this off-season – they simply need Wilson to stay active and contribute, as they’re paying him to do. “At the end of the day, missing 15, 16 games, it can’t happen,” Wilson himself commented on the incident. The question now is whether or not MacLellan and the team can actually influence Wilson into changing his playing style.
  • One fellow player frustrated with both the process and result is Pittsburgh Penguins veteran Matt Cullen. Cullen, 42, has been around longer than virtually every other player in the NHL today and knows a thing or two about how the game operates, or at least how it should. Cullen told Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “When the next CBA comes up, that’s something we (should) address… I don’t think anybody is real happy with it.” Mackey points out that Cullen is unlikely to still be around when the next agreement is negotiated, but the opinion of a respected player still carries weight. Cullen is disappointed not only in the reduction of the suspension – the rival Penguins are no fans of Wilson – but more so in how it occurred. “I don’t think it’s a good look for our league, for our game to need to go to appeals… You’d like the headlines to be about the play on the ice and the players, not the other (stuff) going on outside of the game… I think most guys probably don’t love that — that it got reduced in that manner as far as going to appeal after appeal.” Interestingly, neutral arbitration is very much a player-friendly process that the NHLPA fought for. The idea is to take away any bias from the league by allowing a third party to review all of the facts independently. Yet, Cullen makes a good point that the ordeal is lengthy and not ideal optically either. Especially given that the Department of Player Safety is run mostly by former players, perhaps Cullen speaks on behalf of all players that in the next CBA they would be better off with eliminating the independent arbitrator.
  • And what of the arbitrator himself? Shyam Das has been a thorn in the side of the NHL, but likely won’t be for much longer. While an independent arbitrator, Das is employed by the league for his services. In overturning Wilson’s suspension, Das has now decided for the player in each of his three cases for the league: Wilson, Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson, and then-Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman. Each of those three cases were high-profile and concerning a sensitive subject; Wideman attacked a referee, Watson was accused of domestic assault, and Wilson is the league’s most notorious “thug”. In each instance, the NHL would have very much liked to have seen their decision hold, only to have Das contradict them. Das was fired by Major League Baseball for similarly one-sided decisions and his time with the NHL will likely end the same way.

Snapshots: Schwartz, Wilson, Doughty, Scarlett

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The St. Louis Blues were rolling along just fine a year ago, but when winger Jaden Schwartz went down with an injury on Dec. 9th and missed six weeks with a lower-body injury, the team fell apart and had trouble finding its offense even after he came back as they found themselves outside a playoff spot.

Now, the team is in the exact same situation as Schwartz took a puck off the same leg he injured last year from his own teammate, Vladimir Tarasenko. While this injury is not considered to be as serious, the team feels more confident that they can survive without the winger this season with their improved depth, according to The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford.

The scribe points out that the team used Dmitrij Jaskin and Vladimir Sobotka in their top-six after last year’s Schwartz injury and the team’s third line featured Ivan Barbashev, Magnus Paajarvi and Patrik Berglund, which wasn’t a very deep team. Four of those players aren’t even with the team anymore.

This year, the team moves Sammy Blais into the top-six and still boast several key players on the third line, including Jordan Kyrou, Alex Steen and Tyler Bozak and that’s not including 19-year-old Robert Thomas. With the depth much deeper, the Schwartz injury shouldn’t have as significant effect as it did a year ago.

  • Washington Capitals winger Tom Wilson, currently sitting out 20 games for a preseason hit against St. Louis Blues’ Oskar Sundqvist pending appeal, was asked Sunday whether he intends to change the way he plays. “Yeah, for sure,” Wilson told The Athletic’s Chris Kuk. “The hitting aspect of the game is definitely changing a little bit and I have to be smart out there and I have to play within the rules.”
  • Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty took much of the blame as he said he “failed” in making a difference during the team’s 5-1 embarrassing loss to the Ottawa Senators Saturday as well as their 2-2-1 start. However, Fox Sports’ Jon Rosen writes that Doughty has hardly failed the team as no goals have been scored when Doughty has been on the ice this season and had a plus-1 rating in their loss to the Senators.
  • The Athletic’s Sean Shapiro reports that the Texas Stars, the AHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars, announced that defenseman Reece Scarlett will miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL. The 25-year-old had a strong camp with Dallas and was expected to have a big season with the Texas Stars.

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.

Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou Make St. Louis Opening Night Roster

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The St. Louis Blues have been one of the most interesting teams to follow this offseason, given the huge overhaul they performed on their forward group. Out are names like Patrik Berglund, Vladimir Sobotka and Tage Thompson, while the team has brought in veteran names like Tyler Bozak, David Perron and Ryan O’Reilly. Outside of those veteran additions though, fans were watching closely the development of several young players and hoping they’d get a chance to play in the NHL this season. Thanks to some injuries to start the year—including ones to Oskar Sundqvist, Robby Fabbri and Nikita Soshnikov, who will all start the season on injured reserve of one form or another—Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou, Samuel Blais and Ivan Barbashev have all earned spots on the opening night roster.

The early performance of each of these young forwards was enough to make the Blues place Dmitrij Jaskin on waivers, risking and eventually losing him to a claim by the Washington Capitals. While losing Jaskin for nothing isn’t an optimal scenario, opening up opportunities for talented youngsters is an important step towards contending for the Stanley Cup, something the Blues truly believe they can do in the near future.

They are real opportunities too, as the Blues will open the season with just 12 forwards on the roster meaning all the kids will be in the lineup Thursday night (provided nothing else happens over the next couple of days). Thomas and Kyrou especially will be under the microscope as they make their NHL debuts, both star prospects that could make an impact right away.

Thomas, an impressive two-way center that showed last season with the London Knights and Hamilton Bulldogs that he could play nearly any role needed (including defense during penalty kills on occasion), is a prized prospect for the Blues whose development could make or break the team’s fortunes over the next few seasons. Though he may not be able to step into an top offensive role immediately, the fact that St. Louis believes he’s ready to contribute should excite fans to no end.

Kyrou, the dynamic forward who put up 109 points in 56 games for the Sarnia Sting last season, can disrupt games using his incredible skating ability and nose for the net. There’s little reason to doubt that he can put up points at the NHL level too, but there is still work to be done with his physicality and overall game. Blais and Barbashev shouldn’t be overlooked, given their contributions to the club last season and strong preseasons to date.

There’s obviously changes to be made when the team starts to get healthier, but the Blues will have an intriguing forward group all season as they try to bounce back and make the playoffs in 2018-19. Though the goaltending situation with Jake Allen and Chad Johnson may be the biggest factor, all the pieces are there for contention this season in St. Louis.

Poll: How Long Should Tom Wilson Be Suspended For?

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It’s that time of year again, when hockey is in the air, fans are pulling on their favorite sweaters and Tom Wilson has a hearing on the books with the Department of Player Safety. The Washington Capitals forward will have an in-person hearing with the league on Wednesday morning ahead of the team’s season opener against the Boston Bruins, but won’t be in the lineup when they raise their Stanley Cup banner to the rafters.

Wilson was suspended three times last season including during the preseason and playoffs, and at this point can validate his parking at the league offices in New York. The definition of a repeat offender, this incident included a head shot on St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist—which resulted in some obvious facial damage—and a match penalty that means he’s currently suspended until a ruling is made later this week. Since the league offered an in-person hearing they can now suspend Wilson for more than five games if they so choose, but it’s not clear if they’ll come down hard on a dangerous, but popular player.

The Department of Player Safety is already off to a shaky start this year after there was outcry at the punishment for Montreal Canadiens Max Domi, who was suspended for the preseason schedule but forfeited no pay and suffered little consequence for his sucker punch of Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad. The league also suspended Robert Bortuzzo for two preseason contests and the regular season opener for an elbow, leading the Blues to have to acquire some defensive depth before the season starts.

How long should Wilson sit this time around? Will the league come down hard on a player that can’t seem to stop involving himself in dangerous situations, or continue their slow path of escalation with the Capitals forward? Cast your vote below and let us know in the comments what your decision would be.

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Tom Wilson To Have In-Person Hearing With Department Of Player Safety

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It was obvious that Tom Wilson would face some supplemental discipline from the league after his hit on St. Louis Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, and today the Department of Player Safety announced that the Washington Capitals forward will have an in-person hearing on Wednesday morning. The Capitals are set to open their season that evening when they welcome the Boston Bruins to town, but will likely be without Wilson. If a decision is not reached in time for the game he would still not be allowed to play given his match penalty, but because it is an in-person hearing the league now has the right to deliver a suspension upwards of five games.

There is no hiding that Wilson is in trouble here, as he has an extremely long history with the league’s disciplinary group. Just during the 2017-18 season alone he was suspended three times, and was involved in several other incidents that were looked at by the league. Wilson himself has admitted that he has to try and avoid his dangerous hits, but so far there is little indication that he can realistically do it. In fact, that physical style may be what secured him such a healthy contract in the offseason. Wilson signed a six-year, $31MM contract with the Capitals in July despite scoring just 104 points in his 391 career regular season games. Granted, he was a dominant force in the postseason for Washington en route to a Stanley Cup but there are few comparable contracts in terms of offensive production. It’s his on-the-edge play that sets him apart, but also may lead to his demise for the start of the year and for long stretches throughout the contract.

It’s been this way for Wilson for a long time, turning a nine-goal campaign with the Plymouth Whalers in 2011-12 into a first-round draft selection and then fighting and checking his way to a spot beside Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin on the Capitals top line. He’s an extremely important player for the team, but incidents like this will only continue to escalate in punishment going forward. If the league hands out a long suspension to start the year, he’ll be treading on thin ice every time he uses his size and speed to attack an opponent physically.

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