May 11, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg

The NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Alex Pietrangelo of the Vegas Golden Knights has been suspended for one game for his slash on Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers near the end of game four of their second round playoff series. The “slap on the wrist” that Pietrangelo received is an absolute embarrassment.

I’m not going to compare this to Darnell Nurse receiving a one game suspension for taking an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of the game. Hague was involved with another Oiler, and Nurse was the third man in there. Nurse clearly instigated the fight in my opinion, although I say that without the full context of what had been said between the two players earlier in the game and throughout the series to date. The two incidents in question are separate incidents, and I want to make that abundantly clear while I write about the Pietrangelo incident.

Let’s be absolutely crystal clear about what Pietrangelo did. Shea Theodore, Pietrangelo’s defence partner, was defending Draisaitl as he skated down the right wing and directed a backhand shot towards Vegas’s empty net. Pietrangelo left his side of the ice and skated underneath Theodore in order to get to Draisaitl. Pietrangelo lifted his stick up over his head, slid his hands together at the end of the stick, and aggressively swung the stick down onto Draisaitl’s arm. 

Alex Pietrangelo gives Leon Draisaitl a two-handed slash after an empty net opportunity. pic.twitter.com/wziPdleLDx

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 11, 2023

There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Pietrangelo was being deliberate with his actions. First of all, the puck was nowhere close to the vicinity of the players when the incident occurred. He clearly wasn’t defending at that moment. Pietrangelo left his position to go after the player being covered by his defence partner. He used his stick as a weapon, and slid his hands together to create a longer lever in order to deliver more force onto Draisaitl’s arm. Pietrangelo chose to attack the player that leads the league in playoff goal scoring and that is on pace to set an NHL record for goals in a playoff season. The slash was delivered to Draisaitl’s wrist. An injury to Draisaitl’s wrist would obviously make it more difficult for him to score, so there was a strategic element to his decision. Make no mistake about it, Pietrangelo clearly intended to injure Draisaitl.

Related: Leon Draisaitl on pace to become the first-ever 20-goal scorer in the playoffs

Let me take you back to February 21, 2000. Marty McSorley slashed Donald Brashear in the side of the head as Brashear was skating in the neutral zone. The two players had fought earlier in the game, but the slash was otherwise unprompted. McSorley’s hands stayed apart and it wasn’t a big swing, but the blow was directly to the head and it caused a serious concussion for Brashear. McSorley was suspended for an entire calendar year and was found guilty of assault.

Sure, these two incidents are different. McSorley hit Brashear in the head and Pietrangelo hit Draisaitl in the arm. Brashear sustained a grade three concussion, and Draisaitl is perfectly fine. The way I see it, these are two incidents where the stick was deliberately used as a weapon in an attempt to injure an opposing player. This is an example of the NHL making a ruling based on the injury and not the action itself. One player used his stick as a weapon in an attempt to injure and was suspended for one calendar year, and the other player that also used his stick as a weapon in an attempt to injure was only suspended for one game.

It’s absolute fucking bullshit that Pietrangelo was only suspended for one game. I’m not trying to argue that Pietrangelo should be suspended for a full calendar year because that’s what McSorley got. The resulting injury is a factor; but surely the chasm between the actions of Piterangelo and McSorley and the intent behind their actions isn’t as great as the difference between one playoff game and one calendar year!

It’s fucking pathetic that the NHL views the use of the stick as a weapon and the intent to injure a player as a one game suspension. The precedent that this suspension sets is so wrong. If the result of trying to injure a player by using the stick as a weapon is only a one game suspension, then every team would be smart to call up a player specifically to swing his stick at the other team’s best players. They lose an AHL player for one game, but the other team loses its best player for the series. Why would teams NOT do that? This is a complete failure by George Parros and the NHL to protect the players.

It’s also a complete failure by the NHL to protect its own product! This wasn’t just any player. This was three time 50-goal scorer and current playoff goal scoring leader Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl is an ELITE player, and he’s one of the NHL’s most prized possessions. You’re going to let Pietrangelo attempt to injure him like that and only give him one game? That’s ridiculous! The referees protected Connor McDavid from fighting Pietrangelo when two of them jumped on Pietrangelo to stop the fight, so they protected one star player. They failed to protect Draisaitl with the pointless suspension.

They also failed to protect Pietrangelo in this situation. Pietrangelo will be back for game six of this series, which we already know will happen. That will be an elimination game for one team, so perhaps the Oilers will choose to not seek retribution in that game; but the risk of the Oilers targeting Piterangelo in game six is very real. If Pietrangelo was upset about the treatment that he had received from the likes of Evander Kane throughout the series and game four, then he’ll be really upset at how he gets treated in game six. Perhaps the Oilers will wait until the regular season to seek out retribution on Pietrangelo, but the anger is more fresh right now than it will be next season. The league could’ve done more to protect Pietrangelo by having him sit out the rest of the series.

Vegas fans would argue that Kane tried to injure Pietrangelo on a cheap play in game three. Sure, it was a cheap play by Kane. Kane charged straight at Pietrangelo and pushed his gloves into Pietrangelo’s neck/face area. Maybe Kane was trying to injure Pietrangelo. 

The difference between these two incidents was the use of a weapon. Kane slid his hands together and pushed his hands into Pietrangelo’s neck/face. We would need some more camera angles to see if the little bit of stick that may have been exposed between Kane’s hands actually made contact with Pietrangelo. There’s no debating that Pietrangelo used his stick as a weapon. He slid his hands together to make his stick longer to impart more force into the slash. I’m an Oilers fan, but I’m trying to be as objective as possible here. I’m not going to accept any argument that says I’m biased because of where my allegiances lie. Kane’s play was cheap, but he didn’t use his stick as a weapon.

Game five goes Friday in Vegas, and it’s going to be a hell of a game!