NHL could suspend Morrissey for brutal takedown on Oshie!

Watching the Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals game last night, some people might have thought they had tuned in to watch some WWE events or something... And that is exactly why the National Hockey League Department of Player Safety might have a look at the hit that Jets defenseman Josh Morrissey pulled on Caps star player T.J. Oshie. 

A hit? No, let's call it a brutal body slam. You can see the takedown in the video above, atop of this article, along with the analysis of the Hockey Central Panel. 

Former NHL player Jeff O’Neill believes that Morrissey’s infraction paralleled that of Florida Panthers' Michael Matheson on Vancouver Canucks rookie Elias Pettersson, which drew a two-game suspension earlier this season.

What is worrisome is that Oshie has had at least four documented concussions in his career, and on the footage, you can clearly see he was dropped on his head by Morrissey.

“You can tell he’s not right over there on the bench,” the Jets play-by-play announcer said. After the game, Capitals head coach Todd Reirden mentioned Oshie was injured late in the game, but did not have an update on his condition.

“It’s going to be something the league looks at – similar to a situation that happened in Vancouver earlier in the year,” Reirden added. “Vulnerable player that’s thrown to the ice. That was difficult because we had possession six-on-five. We thought we were making a push couple times at the end of the game there.”

It's been a rough start to the month of November for Oshie as well. The Morrissey hit is the third head-related blow that Oshie has absorbed this month. Oshie was also hit in the head by Evgeni Malkin and high-sticked by Olli Maatta against the Pittsburgh Penguins on November 7. Oshie returned after both plays and scored the game-winning goal that night.

The latest hit took place with just 1:25 remaining in the third with Pheonix Copley pulled for an extra man. As Oshie tried to move past Morrissey, the blue liner rode the Capitals into the corner boards. He then pushed the Capitals forward down to the ice with his left shoulder, and he landed on his back and head. 

Oshie was visibly shaken up, but eventually tried to re-join the play. He was however not much of a factor and Kyle Connor eventually scored the empty-net goal to close the scoring and the Jets won the contest by the final score of 3-1. 

UPDATE: Morrissey will indeed have a hearing for interference/unsportsmanlike conduct on Washington’s T.J. Oshie.