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NHL fines Vancouver Canucks

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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NHL fines Vancouver Canucks
You can hit an opponent on the head, no trouble. Or almost no trouble.

But you can’t openly criticize the league or its referees, because that doesn’t fly. You also can’t bend the rules of the collective agreement, and the Canucks just learned that the hard way!

According to what Frank Seravalli was able to learn, the British Columbian organization was fined $50,000 for holding an on-ice training session after the end of the season.

According to Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic, the organization has been warned that a repeat offence would result in an even larger fine!

I really have a hard time understanding how something like this could have happened. What did the Canucks and Patrik Allvin have to gain from training after the season was over? I don’t understand how an NHL team can break this kind of rule on purpose, or at least think they won’t get caught. From the number of witnesses, including the players themselves, it’s clear they were out to get caught.

It reminds me a little of the story of the Arizona Coyotes, who held a physical testing session with certain prospects in preparation for the 2020 draft. As if no one was going to talk or notice that you’re not supposed to do anything like that!

In the case of the Coyotes, I figure at least they had a potential gain to go with additional data to refine their evaluations of these prospects. But as for the Canucks, I don’t see what they could possibly gain by doing this!

Incidentally, this isn’t the first time the Canucks, then led by Jim Benning, have been busted for breaking the rules of the collective agreement. Indeed, in 2016, they were also fined $50,000. This time, it was for publicly announcing their interest in Steven Stamkos and P.K. Subban while they were still under contract with the Lightning and Canadiens respectively.


In bursts

– Hard to argue otherwise.

– For once, it looks like his name is only being bandied about for the sake of media buzz.

– What a great idea from the Rocket!

– They’re the club to beat in the QMJHL.

– Let’s just say the mental game would be different if we saw this in the MLB.

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