Quote:
Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
Holding a player unnecessarily? Is that even a thing? Who cares if the official is holding a player longer than he needs to? It's one thing if an official is actually attacking a player, but how is there even a discussion about unnecessary restraint? That's one you just have to deal with as a player, wait for the altrication to be over and go on their way. We aren't talking about official abuse of a player here, people seem to be debating official not making the right judgement call on restraint, which doesn't matter at all.
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No question what the player did here was completely over the line. He didn't just tug his arms back trying to get out of the linesman's grasp but actually chopped at the official's hands. You should expect to be suspended every time for something like that.
However, similar to telling a pedestrian to try not to get hit by a car in a crosswalk, even though the car is legally obligated to yield, officials are absolutely taught not to unnecessarily restrain a player. In fact, what the linesman is doing in this clip is almost the prototypical example of what not to do when controlling an angry player.
It will never make the player's conduct ok, but that official should be forced to watch that video and write a memo for next year's training camp as to how he could have prevented that incident rather than becoming a significant contributing cause of it. The double arm grab from the front puts you in the position of an aggressive combatant and almost compels an instinctive reaction from the player of exactly what happened.
The player is still at fault I'm not saying otherwise...he needs to remain in control of himself...but as an official you can help a player calm down or you can push them toward the edge. If the NHL and the referees association are not discussing what they can do to avoid these incidents (such as remind officials about techniques to avoid unnecessary restraint of an angry player) then they are failing to take appropriate responsibility in my view.