Matheson does his best "WWE" slam on Pettersson - Update: 2 game suspension

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Wolfman

Pettersson weighs what 125 lbs?

Even if he did, it has nothing to do with the action of slamming someone to the ice. The play is hitting him to the boards - not hitting him to the boards and then slamming him into the ice.

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by Benched

176lbs according to NHL.com

Just like how Johnny is 5'9" on NHL.com


That means Petterson is maaaaaybe 160 with his equipment on.

[kukkudo]

Ive seen him in person I think his actual weight is around 150-160. Dude is tiny so yes one push from a 200 pound player he will go flying.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

This play is so low down the list of dirty plays committed in the NHL I don't even know why I'm wasting my time arguing about it. It's not even as dirty as the hit Andersson took in Denver for crying out loud. I have said several times it was unnecessary but you can't ignore that this was the product of a really slight man playing in a professional contact sport.

Yeah I think you could argue the hit that Dube took from Gudbranson (partial head shot, never had the puck) was actually a dirtier play than this one too.

First check was fine. The slam to the ice was aggressive but was kinda finishing the check & never targeted the head. IMO the fact he has a concussion is a bit unfortunate and the whole thing looked a lot worse because how small Pettersson is.

I'm not sure it's any worse than how badly Regehr used to maim Hemsky on a regular occurrence.

[kukkudo]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Yeah I think you could argue the hit that Dube took from Gudbranson (partial head shot, never had the puck) was actually a dirtier play than this one too.

First check was fine. The slam to the ice was aggressive but never targeted the head and the fact he has a concussion is a bit unfortunate.

I'm not sure it's any worse than how badly Regehr used to maim Hemsky on a regular occurrence.

Its exactly the same thing, its that back then no social media and not much exposure compared to what we have now.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Yeah I think you could argue the hit that Dube took from Gudbranson (partial head shot, never had the puck) was actually a dirtier play than this one too.

First check was fine. The slam to the ice was aggressive but was kinda finishing the check & never targeted the head. IMO the fact he has a concussion is a bit unfortunate and the whole thing looked a lot worse because how small Pettersson is.

I'm not sure it's any worse than how badly Regehr used to maim Hemsky on a regular occurrence.

Absolutely a much more dangerous play but Dube is not a Leaf or a rookie mentioned in Calder discussions so not big news outside of Calgary.

[Erick Estrada]

Francis on 960 right now kind of half apologizing.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

This play is so low down the list of dirty plays committed in the NHL I don't even know why I'm wasting my time arguing about it. It's not even as dirty as the hit Andersson took in Denver for crying out loud. I have said several times it was unnecessary but you can't ignore that this was the product of a really slight man playing in a professional contact sport.

I think I agree with you, but in my mind this raises another question which I think we should seriously consider:

If a play like this one is a serious impediment to a player with the natural ability of Peterson to play in the NHL, is it something that we should continue to view in the same regard as we have in the past?

Here is a summary of my thoughts on the hit:
· The check was completely fine, the body slam was excessive.
· The entire action was not as egregious as a lot of hits which occur in every game, but by the same token I don't see why this should affect our decision about what should be done in this instance and moving forward.
· The crackdown on the action after the hit will have NO IMPACT on the quality of the game and overall physicality.
· I think the hit is worth a game—maybe two, because I am a strong proponent of striving to reduce serious injuries, to retain the entertainment value, and to strike a balance as much as possible between safety and physicality.

So, I return to the question: forget what has happened in the past, and forget about the physical requirements which were once set on players in order to participate. Is Pettersson a player we want to be playing as many games as possible in the NHL? Is he good enough to play? Does the body slam add anything of value to the game?

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Francis on 960 right now kind of half apologizing.

Yeah, that was particularly pathetic.

[Erick Estrada]

The slam adds nothing to the game for sure. That said I've been of the opinion for a while that he's very slight and it was probably a matter of time until he got hurt. Also lets not forget when Gaudreau started in the NHL I/we heard a lot from Oilers fans that he was going to get killed. Fortunately Johnny is pretty shifty and keeps his head up but he's also got a lower center of gravity than this kid. Still there's always moments with Johnny where I hold my breath.

I really do fear a little for this kid as I don't think this is anywhere close to the worst hit he's going to take. I really hope the coaching staff is instructing him to keep his head up at all times and pick his spots when he goes into the corner. He's in an uncommon spot that he's talented enough to play but maybe not physically developed enough to withstand the punishment.

[TheIronMaiden]

One thing I noticed is that Pettersson did very little to protect himself. I understand that Matheson was over the top, but he has to play every player the same. He cant just push a player a little softer because he is smaller. He has to play Pettersson the same way he plays Getzlaf.

I still think that if he did the same thing to Tanner Glass he would be applauded. Granted Glass, or Getzlaf would be able to protect themselves. The injury is unfortunate but two players share some responsibility on this play.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I really do fear a little for this kid as I don't think this is anywhere close to the worst hit he's going to take. I really hope the coaching staff is instructing him to keep his head up at all times and pick his spots when he goes into the corner. He's in an uncommon spot that he's talented enough to play but maybe not physically developed enough to withstand the punishment.

Agree. Think the difference between him and Johnny was that Johnny's elusiveness came from his edge work and skating.

Petterson is more elusive in the fact that he can kind of dangles around the middle of the ice more and tries to put the puck through people instead of Gaudreau who more was about edge work and going around you on the outside.

I remember thinking those first two games - "One day he's going to try to put the puck through the legs of the wrong guy and catch an elbow/shoulder to the head".

Didn't quite happen that way but in the end I do think he's going to have to be a bit more careful with how he plays.

[Split98]

I think Matheson was very aware of who he had in his clutches, and the size and strength disparity. At best, he could be surprised at how much force he threw Pettersson to the ice, but the purposeful push to the ground was there - and the brief moment from clutch to push was certainly enough for Matheson to know what he was doing.

That said, if it's 95% of the league in his clutches, he's likely not hurting anyone and it's a powerful finishing move. It's a hit and push that we probably see quite frequently but it's not normally a 150lb kid that's being thrown from the board-dasher to the ice. He manhandled the kid, he knew he could manhandle the kid, and the kid unsurprisingly got hurt. If we're all being honest, I think that the best we could say for Matheson in this instance was that he wasn't very concerned for Elias' well-being.

If you imagine Tkachuk on the receiving end it's likely just an aggressive play (and he probably had it coming...). The head impacting the ice really only happens when the player has lost control of his body. The problem with the hit is that he knew Pettersson didn't have control of his body, and he was using his own strength advantage to put him there. It's not a dirty move, but it does seem predatory to me when you consider the subject and the outcome.

Tough to suspend, and I hardly want more injuries to come of it. It's a pretty tough call, but IMO this is a score only Vancouver can settle. The game is fast and hard, and the Canucks are going to have to find out how to get this kid through his younger years. I just wish there was more respect out there, and player code would take care of issues like this.

[saXon]

I find it funny all the Canucks fans, and few other teams' fans for that matter, calling for blood and if anyone mentions anything remotely unapologetic about the situation, there should be hell to pay.

The same people who snickered at McDavid's nickname "Collar McBroken" at just 18 years old.

It's annoying hearing about it all over the media, being overhyped for the hit it was, and the gag worthy double standards that are being portrayed. It's been blown way out of proportion

[Bingo]

Like most things these days this discussion features two extreme opinions, with some sprinkled in the middle.

It was a dirty play and should be a 2 min minor ... arguing against that is silly.
But it wasn't that uncommon of a play either ... which doesn't mean I'm out for blood, I'm a dinosaur or I have Don Cherry wall paper.

If he wasn't hurt I don't think we'd be talking about this at all.

[mikeecho]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

This play is so low down the list of dirty plays committed in the NHL

PK Subban finishes a lot of his hits that way!! Lots of hits in the playoffs finish this way.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Also, I can't believe nobody is mentioning this, but how about this:

1) Everyone agrees that the first part was a normal hockey play

2) Everyone has varying positions on how bad the second part was, ranging from "it's dirty and suspendable" to "it's a 2 minute penalty". There's quite a range there, but the consensus is that it was over the line to some extent.

3) Pettersson is injured on the play, making the offense magnified and people are concerned about player safety on something that looks like it was over the line to whatever extent you perceive.

However, what if Pettersson's injuries came on the clean part of that hockey play? How can we determine where he was injured? Could it not have just as easily happened on the check to the boards as much as when he hit the ice?

The problem is, we (myself included) are all assuming that the part of the play we found objectionable is the reason for the injury, but it's just as likely to have happened on the play we all found perfectly reasonable. Pettersson is very slight, and so a regular old body check could have injured him just as easily as the slam.

I think we have to keep some perspective on this one and not get too worked because the end result was an injury.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

Also, I can't believe nobody is mentioning this, but how about this:

1) Everyone agrees that the first part was a normal hockey play

2) Everyone has varying positions on how bad the second part was, ranging from "it's dirty and suspendable" to "it's a 2 minute penalty". There's quite a range there, but the consensus is that it was over the line to some extent.

3) Pettersson is injured on the play, making the offense magnified and people are concerned about player safety on something that looks like it was over the line to whatever extent you perceive.

However, what if Pettersson's injuries came on the clean part of that hockey play? How can we determine where he was injured? Could it not have just as easily happened on the check to the boards as much as when he hit the ice?

The problem is, we (myself included) are all assuming that the part of the play we found objectionable is the reason for the injury, but it's just as likely to have happened on the play we all found perfectly reasonable. Pettersson is very slight, and so a regular old body check could have injured him just as easily as the slam.

I think we have to keep some perspective on this one and not get too worked because the end result was an injury.

The concussion may well have happened in part one, which made him less able to stop the push down or control his descent in part two.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The slam adds nothing to the game for sure. That said I've been of the opinion for a while that he's very slight and it was probably a matter of time until he got hurt. Also lets not forget when Gaudreau started in the NHL I/we heard a lot from Oilers fans that he was going to get killed. Fortunately Johnny is pretty shifty and keeps his head up but he's also got a lower center of gravity than this kid. Still there's always moments with Johnny where I hold my breath.

I really do fear a little for this kid as I don't think this is anywhere close to the worst hit he's going to take. I really hope the coaching staff is instructing him to keep his head up at all times and pick his spots when he goes into the corner. He's in an uncommon spot that he's talented enough to play but maybe not physically developed enough to withstand the punishment.

I like this response in particular for it's honesty, and I would hope that this is something we can all agree about. With this in view, I think a return to my original questions is pertinent...

In particular, I am interested to know from others whether this fear about Pettersson's safety in the NHL is enough to prompt moderate changes to how incidents like this are handled from how they have been handled in the past. If there are more players like Pettersson playing in the NHL today than in the past, and if we can expect even more in the future, then does the League need to respond with a lower tolerance for certain plays and actions that increase the danger of serious physical injury for small-sized players?

[Meers]

Way to go Eric Francis! Classy as ever. Why not just tape a target on Johnny Hockey's helmet for the next game against Vancouver. This bozo really needs to be fired.

The initial hit wasn't a problem. The "can opener” and pile driver were. That's not a hockey play. Two games.