On Monday, it was announced that Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid had earned a three-game suspension for cross-checking Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland in the head during their tilt on Saturday night.
Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers also received three games for a cross-check to the head of Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard.
Reception to the McDavid suspension amongst fans and around the league has certainly been mixed – the Oilers and McDavid himself made their feelings known on the matter – and the discourse surrounding the protection of the league’s star players was brought to a head.
“Maybe the whole thing is avoided with a blow of the whistle.”
Connor McDavid comments on the three-game suspension the NHL handed him for a cross-check on Conor Garland. pic.twitter.com/esEqZ5EtfO
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 22, 2025
Many echoed the sentiment that – despite Garland committing some frustrating non-called penalties on the play – McDavid simply cannot commit a cross-check to the head of an opponent, even in retaliation as the league’s best player.
While that may be true, a certain other league superstar with ample experience in taking similar abuse had some thoughts on the league’s lack of protection for its stars.
Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby – also the victim of non-calls over the years as the face of the league – sympathized with McDavid’s case.
“Sometimes, your emotions get the best of you,” Crosby told Josh Yohe of The Athletic. “It’s a physical sport. The one time you see that, you probably don’t see the nine hits that Connor took. Those ones are the ones that never make the highlights. When you retaliate, you make the highlights.”
Crosby expanded on the fact that emotion can get the best of, well, even the best players sometimes.
“Whether it’s him or anyone else, it’s an emotional game,” Crosby said. “That’s going to happen sometimes. If there were calmer or cooler circumstances, he probably wouldn’t have done that.”
