Kucherov avoids a suspension for his hit on Holl, despite the fact that Clifford had the book thrown at him for a lesser hit
I'm sure you remember when Kyle Clifford got a 5-minute major, game misconduct and one game suspension for hitting Ross Colton on the numbers in Game 1 of the Leafs/Lightning series this past May. Even though Colton was spinning to avoid the hit and got up right away. That hit is something we see countless times per game and often goes uncalled.
Last night, Nikita Kucherov got his knickers in a twist because he wasn't happy to be on the receiving end of a couple of extra shots. He answered back by charging from the front of the Leaf net to hit Justin Holl in the numbers, sending him crashing head and shoulder-first into the end boards. Kucherov was only given 2 minutes for interference on the dangerous hit, even though the optics looked much worse than Clifford's hit on Colton just six months prior.
It's no surprise that Kucherov got off easy for the hit on Holl. Take a look at the two hits below and tell me which one is the more dangerous hit and warrants a 5-minute major, a game misconduct and a one-game suspension more.
The NHL's Department of Player Safety continues to find new and exciting ways to look like hypocrites. The lack of supplemental discipline for Kucherov just goes to show that there is no defined guidelines for what does and does not constitute a suspension-worthy hit. If that's the case, then there is evidence to suggest that head of Player Safety, George Parros, is simply picking and choosing who to suspend on a whim.
The Leafs continue to be the team in the league who has the lowest number of suspensions due to questionable hits landed against them and the team who possesses the highest number of suspensions themselves. Something doesn't add up there.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 5 | 219 ANSWERS Kucherov avoids a suspension for his hit on Holl, despite the fact that Clifford had the book thrown at him for a lesser hit Is the NHL's Department of Player Safety biased against the Leafs? | ||
| Yes | 192 | 87.7 % |
| No | 27 | 12.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
