It really is bizarre how this has all played out. Just with the characters involved.
I do wonder if you transplant Tkachuk to say, Philadelphia and Kassian to Pittsburgh and re-do the whole thing, would it have the same obsurd legs that it does here? I'm basically blaming the Edmonton media and organization for being a bunch of babies. Nicholson calling Bill Daly to complain? Give me a break.
The closest thing to a rational unbiased take was Burke on Tim and Sid. Burke said he didn't have a problem with what either player did. Tkachuk knew exactly what he was doing, the first hit probably could have been a penalty, but the other 2 were fine. And Kassian snapped. Its not the first time he snapped and it wont be the last. Tkachuk is smart enough to know that was a distinct possibility. He was probably counting on it.
There are 3 levels of "policing"
1 is the players
2 is the referees
3 is the league
You can argue the first failed. It wasn't a fight, so Lindholm was trying to get in there to tie up Kassian, but Neal held him off.
The second linesman was late as hell, but I think they did the best job they could. Why Kassian only got 4 and 10 is beyond me, but you can say the referees did part of there job. The league then did their job by laying down the suspension.
That really should have been it, another chapter in the battle of Alberta. There would be a thread on here about how Kassian is a meathead loose cannon and Tkachuk was lucky not to have a concussion, but he plays that type of game so there ya go. But because the Oilers organization and by association the media is so incredibly insecure this is still a story and St. Kassian is curing cancer somewhere while Adolf Tkachuk goes around kicking puppies.
Its just so bizarre but not entirely surprising.
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