Vancouver Canucks forward Zack MacEwen has been suspended for one game after kneeing Edmonton Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse in the Canucks 6-3 win on Thursday night.
In the middle of the second period, MacEwen and Nurse collided, and while Nurse was on the ice, MacEwen then skated past him and directed his knee towards Nurse’s head and upper body. There was no penalty on the play. MacEwen and Nurse battled with each other for a while, before getting into a fight in the third period.
Vancouver’s Zack MacEwen has been suspended for one game for Kneeing Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse. https://t.co/lzPiQeu0sI
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) May 7, 2021
If you watch the video embedded in the above Tweet, they say: “This is kneeing. It is important to note that while we agree with MacEwen’s notion that the contact was not necessarily forceful, the concept of kneeing a player in the head while in a vulnerable position is simply unacceptable. This is not a hockey play.”
The Department of Player Safety’s factors for MacEwen’s one-game suspension was that it was kneeing, the play was light and that he has not been fined or suspended in the past.
So MacEwen will miss the final tilt of the four-game series in Edmonton on Saturday and according to Sportsnet’s Irfaan Gaffar, it could mean Loui Eriksson could potentially return to the lineup.
Believe by process of elimination that means Eriksson will return to the lineup tomorrow in Edmonton.
— Irfaan Gaffar (@irfgaffar) May 7, 2021
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has been making a ton of questionable suspensions or lack thereof lately. You could even argue MacEwen’s one-game suspension is questionable. It is still baffling that Tom Wilson of the Washington Capitals only got fined $5000 for cross-checking Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich in the head while was on the ice and throwing Artemi Panarin, who wasn’t wearing a helmet onto the ice. (Panarin is our for the rest of the season.)
There is a reason why the New York Rangers voiced their displeasure with the Department of Player Safety in a statement posted on social media which concluded by saying George Parros was unfit to continue being head of the department. As a result, they were fined $250,000.
The Canucks get back at it in Edmonton on Saturday. The puck drops at 7:00 P.M.