There’s a lot of debate about whether Alex Pietrangelo will get a suspension, a fine, or nothing at all for his slash on Leon Draisaitl in Game Four.
After Draisaitl shot the puck from the top of the circle, Pietrangelo followed him to the corner, raised his stick straight up in the air in two hands like a periscope, and chopped down hard on Draisaitl’s arm. And there’s a DEBATE. What are we even doing?
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This should be an obvious suspension. However, I am just amazed that the on-ice officials even got the penalties called — they have been so useless across all games. Now we can all watch and see how inept and corrupt the DoPS really is. George has his big opportunity to screw this up. And Gary Bonehead will justify whatever call is made since he is living in a fantasy land.
6 games for a slash is a joke lol come on
Honestly if the nhl wanted to stop it this is what they would do. But instead they stopped fighting
Jeez bud give your balls a tug…I like these vids but stop with the minimum 6 bs haha
if he even gets a game I be surprised the NHL in the referees have wrecked the playoffs this year. bush-league NHL
Thank god you're not running player safety. Try pickleball.
Bunting got three for something I would say is less egregious. Not saying that Buntings actions were not egregious, but at least he was persuing the puck. This was away from the play, Pietrangelo closed a distance to get to Draisaitl, and had a huge back swing in an attempt to injure the player who has been the most effective against his team. The action wasn’t meant to start a scrum or get into Draisaitl’s head, it was meant to end his playoffs.
It’s a shame if he was injured it would almost certainly be a suspension
Should be at least 2-3 games no doubt
but the league is very consistent with inconsistency
It’s on Edmonton so yes he will get at least 1 to 3 game.
There is a hearing so it is games, likely 3, out for series.
Just as an aside: if there were no instigator penalty, there would be fewer of these to debate.
Player do these things because they will not be held accountable — the refs miss things, the league is loathe to penalize star players, and you have taken away the threat of physical retaliation by implementing the instigator.
The league has to do something about it's schizophrenic relationship with fighting: it claims to abhor it, on the one hand and secretly loves it as the most-exciting 60 seconds in all of sports, on the other.
Fighting was a mechanism for keeping payers in line. Now, with little fear of being physically retaliated against, players are taking more liberties with one another. "What's a slash on the wrist during a playoff game?", they think, " Not like anyone is going to punch me in the face or I'm going to get suspended for fear of determining the outcome".
It seems the only ones who get punished are those who have reputations, like Bunting, while those who also have reputations, like Sidney Crosby, but who are considered superstars, get away with it. And then the league can't fathom why certain people think it's "fixed"?
You would have players swinging pink purses instead of hockey sticks in the name of "Player safety" need to change the name to puff call
Pietrangelo's stick flexed he hit Draisaitl so hard.
I like your idea about being consistent with any slashes away from the play, should be an auto suspension, but I think your game numbers are too high.
Why cant people put their bias aside and call a play for what it is , this was a ridiculous overhand cleave slash with attempt to injure away from the play , stick work is chicken shit , if he had a problem with Draisitl then just jump him and start a fight , thats more of a hockey play and get 0 suspension
If looking from criminal law POV, generally speaking, for a person to be found guilty of a criminal offence he or she must have committed an illegal act (actus reus) and had the required “state of mind” (mens rea) for the criminal offence (extracted from google). Pietrangelo's illegal action was premeditated and acted with intention to cause serious injury to Draisaitl. He is guilty as charged and would have gone to jail if it happened outside the ice. No doubt about that and suspension is necessary to prevent such blatant acts of violence.
Great Vid. Being a hockey player, coach, fan, official (minor league a long time ago), I agree with you 500%. But not only with the slashes, but the damn Cross-Checks. The NHL needs to get rid of all violent stick violations and if players like the ones mentioned in your video here conduct themselves, a large fine and a suspension of 6+ games needs to be enforced by player safety ALL THE TIME!!! These stick violations are no part of hockey.
Yep, to me, suspend the rest of the playoffs, and 5-10 next season. People will stop slashing people like that (breaking their hands/wrists, etc) pretty quick if you crack down. What do these slashes add to hockey? Nothing.
It never ceases to amaze me how delusional some people can be, defending a potentially career-altering slash if it hits the right bones and breaks them. Luckily it seems that Dr. Drai didn't break anything, but the clear intent to injure should always be an aggravating factor when determining the length of suspension. 6-10 games sounds fair, be it regular season or playoffs. No discounts.
Leon dint even have the puck,. easy suspension call. not even a question
if he's not suspended he better see the hospital next game
NHL got different rules for for different players i call that a double standard.
injury should always be factored. Draisaitl wasn't hurt. Playoffs, 1 game suspension seems fair. Had their been an injury, the suspension should be infinite until Draisaitl returns and then tack on games additionally from there. For all we know, he was aiming for the stick. Probably not, but I could see how Pietrangelo could try to make that argument. Pietrangelo is a fool for the giant axe swing which made it look much harder than it was.
One Game suspension is my verdict. And the NHL should be fined for their piss poor officiating that is making players like Pietrangelo feels the need to out and police the game themselves since they're not calling any of Edmontons goonery, but clearly the NHL has pre-determined they're going to give EDM every advantage this year as Bettman has picked his horse.
If there is no multiple game suspension, I am going to quit watching hockey, because it is morally bankrupt.
Kind of makes you think the Department of Player Safety isn’t really about player safety.
You missed the worst one of them all, kuzetsov’s suspension from earlier this season. Somehow only 1 game
wtf does a " fine" do in the playoffs? Fined player probably gets a bigger bonus for taking out a player.
Although I do agree during regular season, the NHL should crack down on these incidents. There’s absolutely no reason for this slash; however, during a playoff series such as this one, I seriously doubt he gets more than a game or two.
Department of Player Safety has completely lost the plot.
Back in the day this would've resulted with a day in jail.
You're insane. It was a love tap
I'm a huge Oiler fan, however, I think if Woodcroft had put out some lesser players out on the ice such as Kostin or Ryan or Yamo(it was 4-1), Petro might not have done it. It looked like Woody was trying to rub it in.