In the Rangers' improbable comeback win over Minnesota on Monday night, aside from the five goal third period outburst, the thing everyone will take away from the game were the two ejections to Rangers players, the reasons behind them, and the subsequent discipline that could or will come from them.
I was lucky enough to get through to the "War Room" on Sirius/XM NHL Radio yesterday and had the pleasure of a brief discussion with hosts Mick Kern and Peter Berce regarding the two plays, and before my call was taken, they discussed how the Kreider hit could be construed as a "hockey play gone bad." When my call was taken, I enhanced their viewpoint by saying, in my opinion, it was a BAD hockey play gone bad. As youth players learning how to check properly, you learn that the numbers on the back of the uniform are off limits. I know what kind of player Chris Kreider is. He's full speed, and a monster of a physical specimen. He is one of those players who I truthfully do not believe has any idea how strong he is. The shove that sent Brodin into the boards took him off his feet and launched him about 10 feet, which normally would give you enough time to brace yourself, but with the force of Kreider's strength, 10 feet acted more like 5 feet, and Brodin took a short flight with a bad landing. It was called a Boarding Major with a Game Misconduct, which is an important determination as compared to the second hit we will discuss. As Kreider has never been suspended, but did injure Carey Price in the playoffs last year, albeit I felt then and still feel he was tripped into him by Alexei Emelin, I thought there might be a 1-2 game suspension coming his way, but the NHL Department of Player Safety ruled that by slowing slightly and bracing for the hit, Brodin attempted to reverse the hit, so they determined his role was partially responsible for the result.
My take in a nutshell - it was a bad hit by Kreider, and he caught a break from the Department of Player Safety. You have to be smarter in that situation, and putting yourself in their shoes, if someone ran McDonagh into the boards that way, Rangers fans would be screaming bloody murder. Chris Kreider, you should buy a lottery ticket - you are a lucky man.
The second hit was the John Moore hit on Erik Haula that knocked Haula out of the game. This was a bad looking hit. John Moore came across on a player in a compromised position as he was following through on his shot. He delivered a shot that from the perspective of the back referee looked squarely to the jaw of the player, knocking him off his feet. I point out the perspective because that's who called the penalty - the back referee, The front referee may have been following the puck, but did not have his arm up. A second replay I saw from the Minnesota feed showed what appeared to be more contact to the chest, with the force snapping the head back, which is natural body physics when you take that kind of a hit. Moore was given a Match Penalty for intentional contact to the head. Match penalties are different from major penalties, in that they carry an automatic suspension until review, pending a hearing.
My take on the Moore hit - the onus is on the player delivering a body check to deliver it legally. The player was in a compromised position, and it seemed a little predatory. John Moore will never be confused with John Scott, but hits like these, of which he has two now, put him in the Pittsburgh/Vancouver era Matt Cooke class. I like John Moore, and I think he has a strong upside, but you have to learn how to do things, otherwise you won't be around long. That being said, Matt Cooke has played over 1000 NHL games so maybe I'm wrong on that, but I see a 6-10 game suspension for John Moore on this hit, unless he can somehow prove by the second replay I saw that he hit him in the chest.
As of this writing, Moore has not had his hearing with the NHL yet. I will go on a limb and predict 8 games for Moore, with the caveat that if the replay does indeed show chest contact as opposed to head contact, it will be less. As it stands, I say 8 games for John Moore.
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