Auston Matthews suspended two games

[BlindMilwaukee]

I agree that net battles exist. But we don’t see the forward get shoved into the crease and then take two more shots every time there’s a battle out front. That’s my only point. A better outcome would be for these two to drop their gloves. Obviously Matthews choose the wrong option.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by BlindMilwaukee

I agree that net battles exist. But we don’t see the forward get shoved into the crease and then take two more shots every time there’s a battle out front. That’s my only point. A better outcome would be for these two to drop their gloves. Obviously Matthews choose the wrong option.

I'm not seeing these "shots" he was pushed a couple times...that is what happens at the net.

The two most blatant cross-checks were both from Matthews who is butthurt that his goalie sucks and his team is gonna choke again.

[BlindMilwaukee]

Dahlin isn’t pushing Matthews out of the crease though. He’s keeping him in there. Anyways, I’ve said my bit. GFG.

[Enoch Root]

you can talk about teh pushing and shoving and roughing Matthews up all you want, that is all part of the game (and Matthews was also doing it).

But the crosscheck to the neck is a different beast. No amount of prior pushing justifies it. He crossed the line and is (rightly) getting suspended for it.

[Shazam]

It would have been 4 games but the NHL felt bad about his receding hairline.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by BlindMilwaukee

I feel like you'd have a different tone if this was done to Chucky/Lindy/Bread.

No. No I would not.

[timbit]

Originally Posted by Shazam

It would have been 4 games but the NHL felt bad about his receding hairline.

He looks like a very young Mike Keenan.

[dino7c]

Matthews is lucky the guy has a neck of steel, any injury and we are looking at a 5-10 gamer

[Philly06Cup]

Hot take.



Using a weapon to attack someone's head/neck, in a non-hockey related way, should be way more than a 2 game suspension. It should be in the realm of half the season.



Fans will anchor what the think is a reasonable suspension to past suspensions. This is wrong. There is no reason to allow this. It's dangerous. Likely to cause injury. Career threatening. Not a hockey play. Get it out of the game.



A good comparable I can think of is in the NFL: a player, Myles Garrett, swung a helmet at the bare head of another player, Mason Rudolph. Used a weapon; attacked at someone's head/neck; non-sport play. That warranted an indefinite suspension, which was reviewed in the offseason, ultimately resulting in 6 games (37.5% of the season). That is the standard I wish the NHL would have on these types of incidents.