3:30 PM: The NHL Department of Player Safety announced this afternoon that Beecher will be suspended one game as a result of last night’s roughing incident. The forward will miss tomorrow’s home game against Seattle.
Beecher is eligible to return at Montreal on Wednesday, however, as reported by Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960, he was injured in the fight with Hague and could miss additional time.
10:00 AM: Calgary Flames forward John Beecher will have a hearing today for roughing Nashville Predators forward Michael McCarron during last night’s contest, the Department of Player Safety announced.
Beecher is now facing the prospect of a suspension after a play that occurred in the later portion of the first period of last night’s Predators victory. As a scrum between the Predators and Flames began to die down, and officials attempted to separate Beecher and McCarron, Beecher delivered a punch to McCarron’s face, one that dropped the Predators veteran to the ground. Predators head coach Andrew Brunette was visibly agitated after the play, and Beecher fought Predators defenseman Nic Hague later in the game.
It should be noted that the punch was not delivered within the circumstances of a fight, and under the NHL’s rules, one could consider McCarron an unsuspecting or at least unwilling recipient of the punch.
As The Tennessean’s Alex Daugherty noted last night, a punch delivered under those circumstances typically merits a match penalty. The Flames could argue that while Beecher’s punch was certainly uncalled for, it would not qualify as a traditional “sucker punch” as McCarron chose to physically engage with Beecher and therefore could not have been fully unaware that a punch could be coming, or could not be considered a fully “unwilling” participant. But on the other hand, seeing as McCarron and Beecher were in the process of being separated, and that their confrontation appeared to be fizzling out, it’s unclear how strong such an argument would be.
In any case, Beecher will now get the chance to explain his actions to the Department of Player Safety. No supplemental discipline has yet been decided, but it appears likely some will be coming for Beecher.
The 24-year-old began the season as a member of the Boston Bruins before he was claimed off of waivers by the Flames on Nov. 18. He has two points in 19 games in Calgary, and skated last night as the club’s fourth-line center. Beecher is playing out a one-year, one-way $900K contract and is set to be a pending restricted free agent, with arbitration rights, in the summer.