Mix a mixture of a Toronto Maple Leafs failed season, an Auston Matthews season-ending injury, a unclean Radko Gudas hit, and a low-ball suspension, and also you get one in every of the largest controversies of the NHL season. Unfortunately for commissioner Gary Bettman, it got here just days before all of the NHL’s general managers converge in Florida for the annual meetings.
If Bettman desired to get some necessary work done this week, he’ll have to deal with the elephant within the room first. After Gudas received the five-game suspension, social media was set ablaze with fans calling for George Parros’ job, the enforcer-turned-executive who hands out the justice. It even drew a response from Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who called for changes to the method.
While some across the league expect something to return of the drama on the meetings, others think it may be a moot point dramatized by social media, based on The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
“If anything, the Gudas knee-on-knee incident is definitely a reminder of how far the sport has come. It’s more of a one-off than a trend, which is probably a good higher reason to hammer a play like that with a harsher suspension,” Lebrun stated in his recent article. “Either way, I doubt we’ll see one other knee-on-knee hit prefer it this season.”
The hit on the captain of the most-talked-about organization in hockey brought more light to the situation. Nonetheless, in a league that has weathered loads of controversies about physical play, this looks as if one other that may eventually fizzle out.