Oshie's dumb penalties and dumb turnovers are equivalent to "loafing it." It's lazy, undisciplined play. It merits a benching. He's not bringing enough (any) of his usual offense to warrant overlooking it at this point.
If you're going to pin his struggles on his concussion, then he
definitely needs to be sitting until he's 100% ready.
This isn't about being "callous." This is about setting a quality standard for this franchise. A quality standard that Oshie is not meeting. This isn't the heresy that you claim it is. This wouldn't be "laughed at." This is something that plenty of other NHL teams do, even to respected veterans and NHL stars.
The Ducks scratched effing Teemu Selanne. Fan and locker room favorite Joel Ward sat some games
last year and
this year. Michael Cammalleri was scratched by the
Devils last year (despite being alternate captain and one of their leading scorer in the prior two seasons) and the Oilers this year. The Blackhawks are clearly a very successful franchise in the NHL, but haven't had qualms scratching
Patrick Sharp and
Brian Campbell when they struggled. Highly respected veterans and future hall of famers get benched when they struggle in the NHL (
and other sports). It happens.
I'm not suggesting that healthy scratches be the go-to anytime a player has a bad game or slump. Far from it. But Oshie's play is truly miserable right now.
The Capitals were 6-0-0 while "chemistry staple" TJ Oshie was injured. They can function just fine without him. He's not the irreplaceable glue guy as you insinuate. The Capitals will do just fine while giving him time off to fix the issues that are holding him back right now. They only have two games between now a back-to-back next Thursday/Friday, which gives him plenty of time to get truly healthy or work out his issues in practice.