The Kane/Kadri incident shining a light on the inconsistencies of Player Safety; This Crosby/Lindgren clip proves it
Without a doubt, the hottest topic for discussion this season has been the NHL's lack of consistency when it comes to officiating and supplemental discipline. There have been countless examples over the course of the season and the playoffs, but perhaps none more egregious than the way the league handled the Evander Kane hit on Nazem Kadri.
Case in point, this side-by-side of a very similar play that occurred in round 1 between Sidney Crosby and Ryan Lindgren. The only real difference on the two plays were that Kadri's resulted in an injury, while Lindgren was able to escape an injury.
Kane received a 5-minute major penalty for boarding on the play, versus a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for cross-checking. Crosby received no discipline and no supplemental discipline for his play.
What is the league even doing if it's only punishing players if an injury occurs? The two plays are equally dangerous, but the outcome of one influenced Player Safety to issue a suspension, while the other resulted in nothing.
Beyond that, we should probably touch on the 1-game suspension for Kane, while Kadri is likely to miss the remainder of the playoffs. The odds are very good that the Avs still eliminate the Oilers in 4 or 5, but Kane is pretty much off the hook tonight either way. For a guy whose track record is as long as Kane's, you'd have assumed that Player Safety would have taken that into account the same way they did with Brad Marchand's record when he had his run-in with Tristan Jarry earlier this year - or better yet, the Spezza/Pionk incident, where Spezza - A FIRST TIME OFFENDER - was suspended 6 games for taking a run at Pionk after the Jets defender caught Leafs defenseman Rasmus Sandin with a dirty knee-on-knee, causing injury.
The question that nobody seems to be asking is, if Kane had done that to Nathan MacKinnon or Mikko Rantanen instead of Kadri, what happens then? I'd imagine the suspension is substantially longer. Something needs to change this summer, because people are getting tired of these sorts of decisions and lack of appropriate action from Player Safety.
