The NHL's shocking penalty system – Winnipeg Free Press

PHILADELPHIA — Brenden Dillon was in no mood to talk Thursday morning. But we couldn't help but notice that as the veteran Winnipeg Jets defenseman skated alone at one end of the ice at the Wells Fargo Centre, it looked like he was putting on a little extra muscle in the one-shots he took as assistant coach Scott. Arniel gave him passes.

Maybe a little angry?

Dillon will have plenty of time to quietly work on his hitting in the coming days, as he's serving a three-game suspension — the penalty, he's with the Jets, at least one-on-one.

“You're going the wrong way with me here,” Arniel said Free press “Too big a fine.”

The NHL Department of Player Safety fine for Dillon's dangerous check on Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acchari wasn't the same, but the Jets felt it was worth a game or two.

No, it's a highly inconsistent example set by George Parros, a former enforcer who now serves as the league's umpire, umpire and enforcer.

Where does Winnipeg feel that injustice has been done? Let's count the ways.

At the top of the list, Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Strome's dirty knee shot in December sidelined leading scorer Kyle Connor for five weeks. The judges gave the performance a five-minute keynote, which was confirmed in the video review. After the game was over, it was nothing but NHL cricket.

No hearing. There is no stopping. No penalty either, despite a big loss to Winnipeg.

“I respectfully disagree with the league,” coach Rick Bowness said. “I think it's still a suspended crime. I felt it then, I've looked at it many times and I still feel it.”

Longtime NHL referee Dave Jackson said free press, he believes the league eventually saw it as “a bad hockey play compared to the atrocity of having his knee removed.”

The Jets wondered why the same logic wasn't applied to Dillon, who now had every right to get into Acciari as he carried the puck through the neutral zone. The much smaller Acciari then ducked as Dillon made contact.

Here's how veteran NHL writer and broadcaster Mark Spector from Edmonton summed up the game in a social media post.

“You're going the wrong way with me here. Too big a fine.”– Coach Scott Arniel

“The physics of hockey: When a 5-foot-9 player (Acciari) chooses to lift the puck — and thus lower his head — through two zones without ever looking up, and is paid to interfere with the 6-4 D-man (Dillon). his progress, head contact will appear. Acciari needs to change his mind, Dillon doesn't, IMO.”

Arniel noted that Dillon, who has been in the league since 2012 and has played 863 games with just one suspension (for a cut in 2017), “did a lot of the right things” when he entered an opponent, leaving the game with a suspicious man. Falling flat on the ice didn't help.

“No chicken wings (elbows) or legs,” he said.

“You know the league is screwing things up like that. We were hoping there would be some resolution, but we were hoping it wouldn't be three (games). You have to live with it. Once the decision is made, there's not much you can do. We just have to move forward.”

In deciding not to penalize Strome, the NHL considered the Ducks lost a kicker for 2/3 of the game and called it “service time,” Jackson said.

The Jets hoped a similar approach would be taken here. After all, they were forced to play with just five defensemen for most of the game, but Pittsburgh scored two goals on the next five-minute power play en route to a 3-0 win.

There have been other incidents on Winnipeg's grievance list this year.

Gabe Villardi has been sidelined for more than six weeks after Los Angeles Kings forward Blake Lizotte took him out for a dangerous trip that led to a two-minute penalty, but there were no further sanctions.

Josh Morrissey was forced into concussion protocol — thankfully he cleared it quickly — after Edmonton Oilers winger Matthias Janmark drilled him with a blindside shot that officials completely missed on the play. Janmark was then given free access.

Who can forget last month's Ryan Hartman vs. Cole Perfetti incident, in which the Minnesota Wild veteran slapped a young Winnipeg player hard in the face — and then got on the hot mic, admitting it was an intentional act for Dillon's uncalled action. counter check that injured Kirill Kaprizov in the previous game.

“Once the decision is made, there's not much you can do. We just have to move forward.”– Coach Scott Arniel

Hartman was fined by the league, but the Jets felt a more severe penalty was warranted.

“You want to see … you have a say in it as a team, you want to see things done. But that's the way it is,” Arniel said when asked if there was a consistency problem in the game.

Dillon will miss Thursday's game against the Flyers and will also sit out Saturday's game against the Penguins and next Wednesday's game against the San Jose Sharks. He will be eligible to return on Feb. 17 when the Jets travel to Vancouver to take on the Canucks.

Dillon, 33, is having a breakout year for the NHL's best defensive team. He matched his career high in goals (six) and is on pace to surpass his career high of 23 points with 15 points in 48 games. It also comes at a good time as he is in the final year of his deal. which will pay him US$3.9 million.

The pending unrestricted free agent has repeatedly said he wants to re-sign with the Jets, but Free press As of early this week, no talks had been held with the organization. He said the player switched agents a few weeks ago, hoping the process could start sooner.

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