Vancouver Canucks: No Suspension for Nazem Kadri’s Hit on Daniel Sedin

The NHL will not discipline Toronto Maple Leafs forward Nazem Kadri for his high hit on Vancouver Canucks forward Daniel Sedin.

Things got ugly in the third period of the Vancouver Canucks versus the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The score was ugly enough on it’s own, as the Canucks lost 6-3. It’s their ninth consecutive loss.

In the third period, with the Leafs leading comfortably, the game turned sour. The refs handed out 157 penalty minutes in the final frame. Multiple players for both teams received misconducts.

In case you missed it, here is a replay of it all:

Kadri’s Headshot

One play was uglier than the rest.

Early in the third, Daniel Sedin scored off the rush off a pass from Jannik Hansen. As he released the puck, Leafs forward Nazem Kadri hit him from the blind side, and appeared to target his head:

The officials ejected Kadri after the play.

This morning, the NHL annouced they would not suspend Kadri for the hit. People in Vancouver reacted exactly as you would expect:

Some People Defend Kadri

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Of course, the closer you get to Toronto the more opinion starts to shift in Kadri’s favor. Jamie McLennan believes the hit was “dirty, but not suspendable.”

Greg Wyshynski defends the non-suspension even more strongly. He asserts that the shoulder, not the head was the principle point of contact. Further, there the video angles were mostly from behind Sedin, making it difficult to see how much contact Kadri made with the head.

Wyshynski concludes:

"If the head isn’t the main point of contact then it doesn’t matter from where the hit arrives. If you feel that’s B.S., then it requires another amendment to the rulebook, rather than Player Safety redefining it arbitrarily….If you’re someone that’s constantly bemoaning the inconsistency of NHL Player Safety but wants them to reshape their standards to fit a hit you don’t like, then maybe inconsistency is what you want after all."

Fair point, but let’s look at the bigger picture for a second. Yes, we do want consistency from the Department of Player Safety. So, Wyshynski is technically correct here. (No, I can’t believe I just wrote that, either.)

But come on, now — do we really want to allow hits like this on a technicality?

The real problem: players don’t avoid dangerous hits

Does anyone honestly think that Kadri’s hit is the sort of play we want to see more of? Of course not. It’s exactly the sort of hit everyone wants to eliminate.

Forget the “principle point of contact,” and forget “blind-side.” Try the word “avoidable” instead. That’s what’s wrong with this hit.

Nazem Kadri didn’t have to hit Daniel Sedin. He was allowed to, but he could clearly see as he approached that Sedin was in a vulnerable position. The entire time, Kadri was in control of where and how hard he threw the hit. He was never “locked in” to the check and unable to alter his course.

He could have made a more responsible choice, to hit through the body or else step out of the hit. Instead he doubled-down, and risked a serious injury.

That’s the issue here. One player choosing to play dice with another player’s health.

In a fast-paced contact sport like hockey, players do accept some risk of serious injury. But hits like Kadri’s are not an acceptable risk. Not even close.

Even McLennan and Wyshynski can’t deny that.

Too many players in Kadri’s position still choose to risk injuring another player. With today’s ruling, the NHL has given them no reason to stop.

Maybe the rules do technically allow hits like this, then either the rules or the enforcement need to change. And they need to change now.

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Despite the hit, Daniel did finish the game. For now, it looks like he is still healthy. He has struggled with concussions in the past, so this is good news.

The Vancouver Canucks and their fans are forced to accept the NHL’s ruling. It might be correct, but it sure isn’t right. Not even a little bit.