If you’re going to do something dirty in the NHL, you should do it during or close to the playoffs.
That’s the lesson to be learned for hockey players in recent years, as the NHL continues to be very lax on transgressions made around the postseason. There have been two glaring examples just this week. First, Flyers forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare only got a one-game ban for one of the most dangerous and cringeworthy hits you’ll see on ice.
Now, Kris Letang has avoided supplemental for doing this to Viktor Stalberg.
No hearing for #penguins Kristopher Letang. #lnh #tvasports
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) April 20, 2016
That seems pretty cut and dry, no? I’m not sure exactly why the league determined this wasn’t worthy of a hearing because, normally, slashing an opponent directly in the face is frowned upon (just ask Duncan Keith). But, then again, it’s the playoffs and Letang is a star player, so ¯_(ツ)_/¯.
The scariest thing is it’s still only the first round of the playoffs. There’s still a whole lot of hockey left to be played and guys are seeing that they’re being given some serious room to operate outside of the rules, so player safety could be heading in a dangerous direction.
