Last week, it was confirmed that Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy would appeal his four-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Florida Panthers’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson. His decision even surprised NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who rendered the decision on Wednesday. McAvoy’s four-game suspension has been upheld by Bettman.
The good news for the Bruins and McAvoy is that the suspension, though it was not reduced, wasn’t increased either.
The incident took place in last Monday’s game against the Panthers in which McAvoy received a match penalty at 9 minutes, 24 seconds of the third period for delivering a check to OEL’s head. The game ended in overtime with Boston coming out on top, but without McAvoy, who was suspended the next day.
McAvoy was expecting to be handed two games like we usually see for an illegal check to the head. However, the extra two games to McAvoy could be based on his previous suspension history, having been banned for one playoff game in 2019 for an illegal check to the head of then-Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson.
In the ruling, we can read:
“At the hearing, Mr. McAvoy spoke candidly and acknowledged that he “did not successfully deliver the check I intended to,” noting that his intention was to deliver a shoulder-to-shoulder check on Mr. Ekman-Larsson. Mr. McAvoy reiterated that he had no intention to injure Mr. Ekman-Larsson on the play, and that he knows he made a mistake. Mr. McAvoy was respectful and appropriately remorseful for his actions. Mr. McAvoy went on to explain that this event happened because of a split-second decision he had made in error. While I recognize that the game of hockey is fast paced, I cannot excuse actions, such as these, which are wholly avoidable. Here, the video makes clear that the check was delivered late (Ekman-Larsson had already released the puck); it was delivered high (McAvoy elevated through the contact); it was delivered forcefully; and that it was not delivered shoulder-to-shoulder, but rather directly to Mr. Ekman-Larsson’s head. While, fortunately, Mr. Ekman-Larsson was not injured on the play, the onus was still on Mr. McAvoy to avoid direct contact with Mr. Ekman-Larsson’s head. Simply put, Mr. McAvoy could have, and should have, avoided making this illegal hit, but did not.
“As a result, I find that the Department of Player Safety’s decision to suspend Mr. McAvoy for four (4) games is supported by clear and convincing evidence and is hereby affirmed.”
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