Florida defenseman Mike Matheson has been suspended 2 games for his WWE style takedown of Vancouver rookie forward Elias Pettersson. The decision comes two days after Matheson plowed Pettersson into the boards, lifted him up, and buried him into the ice.
Although Matheson wasn’t called for a penalty on the hit, it only took one replay to realize the league office would be in touch with him shortly. Canucks coach Travis Green called the hit “dirty” and only the most homer of Florida fans could argue that. See for yourself:
Dirty?
You can see that Pettersson, who has five goals and eight points through five games for the Canucks this season, sashays around Matheson for a nifty backhand pass before skating away. Elias was slow to get up and the Canucks have since announced that he has a concussion and will be out a minimum of 7-10 days. This is another example of a player taking liberty with a rookie because his feelings are hurt after getting bamboozled by a kid. It’s bullshit, and no one, at least no one who respects what the NHL is trying to do to keep players safe, should be okay with that sort of hit.
Many have attributed Petterssons “small” stature as to why the hit looked so violent. That would only be the case if Matheson was 2 inches taller and had 60lbs on him, but as listed on each team’s roster, the Florida D-man only outweighs the rookie by about 20lbs, and both are 6’2”. Even though I’m sure plenty of the old heads watching the game love the gritty, hard-nosed hit, there’s no place for this type of revenge hit in today’s game.
Stay Tuned
Now, I’m not saying the Canucks were on their way to becoming world beaters. They’re in no way a contender at this point, but Pettersson was showing promise. In hockey, we all know that a concussion can start as a week to week diagnosis, and end up a month to month recovery. That’s not to say he wont come back strong, you just have to hope he stays aggressive. So often we see young players take a shot and become hesitant in the dirty areas.
No matter how you slice it, Matheson wanted to show a rookie what happens when you get fancy. With all the young guns showing out in the league today that just can’t happen. The NHL seems to be taking notice, and a suspension will send the right message. Hockey can’t afford to lose any current or future stars.
