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The frustration that Connor McDavid expressed this week is pointless.
Credit: I don’t know what got into Connor McDavid, but he seems to have something weighing on his heart recently. Last night at the end of the game, as the Edmonton Oilers were trying to tie the score against the Vancouver Canucks, the center player delivered a cross-check to the face of his opponent Conor Garland […]

I don’t know what got into Connor McDavid, but he seems to have something weighing on his heart recently.

Last night at the end of the game, as the Edmonton Oilers were trying to tie the score against the Vancouver Canucks, the center player delivered a cross-check to the face of his opponent Conor Garland with only three seconds left to play. The Oilers ultimately lost 3-2.

McDavid’s action occurred after a pileup and scuffling between the two players following a hit from the Oilers player on Garland. McDavid also threw a punch at his opponent while Garland was holding his arm from above.

Then, when the Canucks player continued to hold McDavid, the latter responded by delivering a solid two-handed Sherwood to the face.

During the play, McDavid received a match penalty and will have to attend a hearing with the Department of Player Safety at a date and time not yet announced.

Could the NHL suspend the best hockey player in the world? Hard to say, because while McDavid’s action is unequivocal, the context is much less so.

At several moments, we clearly see Garland holding McDavid, and the referees should have intervened to prevent the escalation that followed.

However, it’s not for the players to take justice into their own hands on the ice, and it’s not the kind of behavior the League wants to encourage, so it must send a message, even if McDavid is one of the biggest stars in the league.

In the same sequence, Tyler Myers of the Canucks also received a match penalty for a cross-check on Evan Bouchard and will also have to meet with the Department of Player Safety.

 

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