1:10 PM CT: The league has announced their decision, giving Makar a one-game suspension which will keep him out of the lineup for Game Five. If not one of the more interesting series already up to this point, Game Five will see the Kraken without one of their best forwards on the team, and also see the Avalanche without their best defenseman. As the series is now tied at two games apiece after the Kraken’s win last evening, Game Five will give one team control over the series.
8:04 AM CT: The Colorado Avalanche lost the game last night and now could be without the services of their best defenseman. Cale Makar will have a hearing today for his hit on Seattle Kraken forward Jared McCann, suggesting a potential suspension is coming down the pipe. McCann has already been ruled out for game five after suffering an injury on the play.
Makar was initially given a five-minute major for interference, but after an officials review, it was reduced to a two-minute penalty. The league apparently disagrees with that decision, if they are preparing to hand out some supplemental discipline for the Avalanche defenseman.
If they do lose him, Colorado will be in a vulnerable position. They are heading home, but the series is now tied after Jordan Eberle’s overtime dramatics. Removing Makar, who played 27 minutes in the loss, leading all skaters, will put a ton of pressure on the other Avalanche defenders. Already the team was basically operating a four-man rotation, with Erik Johnson and Josh Manson each playing fewer than 13 minutes in the overtime contest.
The league may be exercising some proactivity with this discipline, as the Kraken would likely have been trying to take some liberties with Makar had he faced nothing after the game. While he suggested there was no intent to injure McCann, the entire Kraken team has expressed their displeasure with the hit, and the decision to reduce it to a two-minute penalty.
Should not lead to any suspension, the in-game was ruled too harsh and reduced so there should be no need for further discipline.
Agreed. The result of the hit was unfortunate, but if those dipshit officials had blown the whistle there’s no way makar even goes for that hit. That was the most one sided officiating I’ve seen in some time.
Yeah cause in game officials are never wrong. I don’t care if it was reviewed by the office or not. It may have been deemed to harsh for playoff hockey the way this league runs
To me this is just window dressing. The league going through the motions. There will not be a suspension
And wrong again. Are you going for the record?
Agreed, he played to the whistle. That they suspend him because the Kraken are upset is not what supplemental discipline is for.
The hit was a bit more than unfortunate, but you are spot on about the officials. The officials were basically letting anything go – almost promoting an injury… and started well before the Makar hit, and both teams got away with multiple dangerous hits.
I will bet that the officials will definitely favor the Av’s in game 5 though, BECAUSE of the suspension.
There’s a HUGE difference between playing to the whistle and what Makar did. I love watching Cale Makar – he’s one of the most dynamic players that I’ve ever seen – but you can’t just hit a guy away long after the puck is gone and out of play just because there wasn’t a whistle. Whistle or not, McCann wasn’t eligible to be hit.
Playing to the whistle typically refers to net front, potential loose puck, situations. Not just being able to deck unsuspecting players.
Oh come on. That was a nasty and very late board check that injured the player. This is EXACTLY the sort of scenario supplemental discipline was meant for.
I agree. Smashing a guy late and with the intent to injure is punishable.
At least one game here. Sorry Aves fans but if it was Makar getting rocked and out a game you’d be saying the same thing
Yeah! Superstars need to follow the rules too!
The “play to the whistle” take on this is a room temp IQ take. Yes you play to the whistle, that doesn’t mean you can just go out and do whatever you want, especially when it is a CLEAR case of interference. Clear and simple, McCann doesn’t have the puck for a few seconds and Makar still checks him that is interference to a tee. The whole “well he thought the puck might drop into the corner” is a terrible excuse because guess what, it’s still interference and Makar clearly doesn’t even take a look to see if the puck is coming back into play.
Is Makar getting suspended because McCann got hurt? Probably. That’s also relatively the status quo for these decisions. Player Safety Department has a history of suspending based on whether or not it resulted in an injury/how long the injury is.
I like Makar, he’s fun to watch, seems like an ordinarily lucid person. Should’ve been 2, maybe 3 games. Still can’t objectively figure out how Bunting got 3 and this gets 1.
Bunting hit Cernak in the head
And how does a cheap shot into the boards that fractures somebody’s neck not warrant any suspension?