The Toronto Maple Leafs won their fourth game in their last five games on Monday against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dennis Hildeby played exceptionally and continues to increase his stock. However, an eventful third period overshadowed the 2–0 win.
The long and short of it is that Bobby McMann was suspended for one game, which he will serve on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks. However, this suspension has spurred the classic “does the Department of Player Safety (DoPS) have it out for the Toronto Maple Leafs” debate.
Let’s take a look at whether there is any merit to these claims.
The McMann incident
In the early third period on Monday, Gage Goncalves kneed Dakota Mermis, which spurred a Dakota Joshua fight and the eventual McMann infraction. The penalties assessed according to the official game log were the following:
- Bobby McMann (#74) 15 minutes for Match Penalty Oliver Bjorkstrand (#22)
- Gage Goncalves (#93) 5 minutes for Kneeing Dakota Mermis (#36)
- Gage Goncalves (#93) 10 minutes for Game Misconduct
- Max Crozier (#24) 5 minutes for Fighting Dakota Joshua (#81)
- Dakota Joshua (#81) 5 minutes for Fighting Max Crozier (#24)
The fighting majors are obvious and make sense. The controversy lies between the discipline that McMann received versus what Goncalves received. You be the judge, did the refs call the incident correctly?
Unfortunately, we can only go based on what the officials “saw.” Following this logic, the penalties assessed reflect what the officials “saw.” The officials saw Goncalves kneeing Mermis and assessed him a five-minute major penalty. As per the official rules for kneeing, Goncalves was then assessed an automatic game misconduct.
Clearly, the officials thought this was a serious enough infraction to take Goncalves out for the remainder of the game.
Then there is McMann’s penalty. McMann’s stick does come down and strike Oliver Bjorkstrand in the head. However, was it “sufficient force to warrant supplemental discipline?” Bjorkstrand didn’t even flinch. This is after McMann got shoved in the face by Bjorkstrand, which went unpunished.
The larger issue is not that the officials assessed McMann a match penalty, but rather that the officials lack consistency in their on-ice calls. How can the officials see Goncalves’ knee, which looks very deliberate because he leads with his leg, and not think that it also deserves a match penalty? Why was McMann the only player assessed supplemental discipline?
The NHL has a lack of penalty consistency
The NHL is trying to eliminate shots of any kind to the head. I am okay with McMann getting a match penalty, and I am okay with McMann getting a one-game suspension. However, this needs to be applied consistently.
For example, let’s look at the Jacob Trouba high-stick against Trent Frederic just two years ago. No penalty on the ice was assessed to Trouba. After the fact, Trouba was given the maximum fine of $5,000. I argue the Trouba high-stick is much worse than what McMann did.
At the very least, Trouba applied much more force than McMann did, yet McMann’s discipline was harsher. McMann was a first-time offender, whereas Trouba had been suspended once before this incident.
In defence of the officials, they will not catch everything. Certain angles look worse than others, and depending on where they are on the ice, they are bound to miss infractions. That’s why there are reviews after the fact, and supplemental discipline exists. In the Trouba case, the officials “missed” the call on the ice, and the DoPS stepped in with supplemental discipline.
Fine. The system worked as intended (kind of). But again, where is the consistency between the Trouba and McMann incidents?
Does the DoPS hate the Leafs?
There is a common talking point that because Colton Orr ended George Parros’ career after a fight in 2013, Parros has a personal vendetta against the Leafs. When we look at the data since Parros has been the head of the DoPS since 2017–18, the Leafs are the most suspended team with 12:
Table 1. Table showing summary statistics of the top 10 NHL teams with the most suspensions from the 2017–18 season to present. This includes regular season and playoffs, no automatic suspensions, and only on-ice incidents.
| Team | Games | # of Suspensions | # of in-person Hearings | # of Ejections |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 36 | 12 | 2 | 8 |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 21 | 12 | 0 | 9 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 22 | 10 | 1 | 17 |
| Washington Capitals | 49 | 9 | 3 | 7 |
| Boston Bruins | 28 | 9 | 1 | 15 |
| Calgary Flames | 17 | 9 | 0 | 20 |
| San Jose Sharks | 16 | 9 | 0 | 17 |
| Minnesota Wild | 24 | 8 | 1 | 11 |
| Ottawa Senators | 22 | 8 | 1 | 12 |
| Winnipeg Jets | 20 | 8 | 0 | 8 |
I find it funny that five of the seven Canadian teams are in the top 10 most suspended teams. But the Leafs currently rank at the top with the highest number of suspensions. The Leafs are second in games lost due to suspension, with 36 behind the Washington Capitals’ 49.
Critics constantly accuse the Leafs of being a “soft team.” Yet, when looking at the data, one can and should consider them one of the dirtiest teams. If the recent playoffs are any indication, it seems that “dirty teams” should do well in the playoffs.
But dirty teams win playoff series?
Unfortunately, the league does not discipline all dirty teams the same in the playoffs. The league suspended Nazem Kadri two playoffs in a row while he played for the Leafs. The first suspension occurred in 2018 when he hit Tommy Wingels in Game 1, and the league assessed Kadri a three-game suspension.
The second suspension was also against the Boston Bruins in Game 2 in 2019 for cross-checking Jake DeBrusk. The league suspended Kadri for the “rest of the Eastern Conference First Round.” This ended up being five games as the Leafs lost in seven games.
I am not saying Kadri did not deserve those suspensions. Even though “for the rest of the Eastern Conference First Round” is quite… vague, I think Kadri did deserve those suspensions. They were awful hits and had a prior history. I say this fully acknowledging that the officials let these games get out of hand and could have been avoided had they called plays earlier in the game.
But it’s again the lack of consistency. For this, we can point to the recent playoffs featuring playoff MVP Sam Bennett. When we look at several plays by Sam Bennett and some of his teammates in last year’s playoffs, how can the DoPS let some of these plays go unsuspended?
Bennett deliberately elbowed the Leafs’ starting goaltender, Anthony Stolarz, who later puked on the bench. This hit sidelined Stolarz for the rest of the series. The officials did not call a penalty, and the league did not provide any supplemental discipline. Bennett also has a suspension history.
A need for clarity and consistency
At the end of the day, I think what most fans want is consistency. I don’t think the DoPS is deliberately targeting the Leafs, even though it feels like this at times. Until the league starts applying on-ice and off-ice discipline consistently, the league will continue to be criticized, and rightly so. And as a fan, unfortuantely, the inconsistency often ruins my enjoyment of the game.
But what do you think? Leave a comment down below!
Follow 6ix On Ice on social media!
