Post-Game Talk: Kassian suspended 7 games for kick

[Electricity]

Maybe I'm in the minority but I think 7 games is over the top. Sure suspend him and send a message but this is twice as long as it should be for what actually happened.

Apparently you can check a guy with the primary point of contact being the head and give said player a concussion and not get so much as a penalty if you do it the right way. Or you can hit a vulnerable player from behind head first into the boards and not get a penalty. Or you can stick your leg out on another player and not get a penalty. But a light kick gets 7 games? That specific kick wouldn't have hurt anybody unless he kicked them in the face. There was virtually no danger of Cernak getting cut as it was indeed more of a push into the chest protector.

DOPS only cares about optics and does not treat players equally. If they gave a **** about protecting players the suspensions would be considerably different. If this is worthy of a 7 game suspension because of the potential danger of cutting a player then where is Giordano's lengthy suspension for sticking his leg out on McDavid because of the potential danger of ending McDavid's season/career with a knee on knee hit. The standard applied by the DOPS is horribly inconsistent and certain considerations are subjectively thrown out the window for one dangerous play and not another.

Anyways it was a dumb reactionary thing for Kassian to do and it is suspension worthy but my goodness the hyperbole regarding this incident is ridiculous.

Imagine someone has a really sharp knife in their hands, like, an 8-inch blade. And they push you hard in the chest with it. No, they push your son or daughter hard in the chest with it, sideways.

No big deal right? No danger there. They were wearing pads lol.

What past punishments were for past misdeeds from past players means nothing. They're only justifications for your fanatacism.

Hockey players wear very sharp blades on the bottom of their feet. Just fyi.

And yes, you are the minority, even on your own board. That doesn't make you wrong though, it's your opinion that does.

 

[BlackDogg]

Its almost like Parros checks twitter before making a ruling.

Yep. Chara is more popular. All about who the player and team is

 

[Pucklington]

I'm more annoyed Chara didn't get a suspension. That was far worse...

 

[BlackDogg]

It's like Pot o Parros Box of Chocolates. You never know what your gonna get. Kass got the crappy fruit one

 

[The Rainman]

Not here to crap on kass. Stupid move yes and I'm sure if he could he would take that back. The long and short kass is here long term and can be a very effective player. There is some hate going on by posters I've never seen coming out of the wood works . I hope he gets his **** figured out and gets back to being effective on the ice. Your up Benson time to make your mark dont waist it we really need the help!

Don't hold your breath on Benson. He's not fast enough to play with McD and Drai. The Oil have had a tough time getting a winger to play with those two and Kass has done a nice job. If you're playing against McD and Drai you are going to think twice about roughing the two of them up with Kass on the ice. Learn to like what he brings to your team with out the over the top stuff.

 

[Jesus Take the Wheel]

The age we live in where sharing a last name with somebody but not even being related to them causes a witch hunt on social media sad really

 

[McGoMcD]

Let's be real, this is 7 games for being dumb. Kass isn't the smartest guy. He didn't intend to hurt at all. If you watch the play he simply didn't move his foot quick enough to ever do real damage. A smarter player knows you just can't ever kick, Kass is dumb and trying to get back into the play. There was no intent, just pure stupid.

Sadly, we signed him to decent money. I just hope he can make the contract look ok. He can play, he can protect, but man he is also dumb as a block of wood.

 

[Isaak16]

Love Kassian. He’s a better player than I thought he’d become. That was a dumb thing to do though.

Although.....if you’ve played hockey you’ll know that eventually you end up in a pileup where someone knows they’ve got two of you for one of them. They’ll make it difficult to get out of the dog pile. If they hold onto your foot some people have a reaction to kick your foot loose. I’ve been there before. It’s the wrong thing to do but it’s a reaction. The suspension is justified but it’s also not like it needed to be done for Kassians sake. He wouldn’t do it again, yet the suspension still needed to happen.

 

[bellagiobob]

I thought 8. He deserves it but the NHL looks so bad hitting Chara for 50 grand in the same week for something just as malicious. Like get your **** together.

It was actually only a 5 grand fine. Hard to believe as it is.

 

[harpoon]

To me that was worse than McSorley-Brasher and should have been at least half a season

Oh good grief.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

What I find strange is a linesman was right there watching the whole thing and didn't issue a penalty. I thought in extreme circumstances, linesman can call penalties or stop play and point it out to the refs. Just an observation.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Double post

 

[noice]

How much cap room Oil save?

nm .15 million I believe but still goes against cap right n is a fine?

 

[NedPlimpton]

I'm a fan and will defend Kass on a lot of things, even some that others seemingly want to crucify him for, but I can't really on this one.

Days beyond it now I feel okay about it because nobody was injured, but as someone who's never even played hockey I know not to kick or even attempt to purposefully put my skates near anybody like that. People can debate the "kicking" aspect of it all they want, but you just can't do that.

Hopefully he comes back rested and a little smarter and can continue the strong play he's had on the top line.

 

[rickysusedsht]

Don't hold your breath on Benson. He's not fast enough to play with McD and Drai. The Oil have had a tough time getting a winger to play with those two and Kass has done a nice job. If you're playing against McD and Drai you are going to think twice about roughing the two of them up with Kass on the ice. Learn to like what he brings to your team with out the over the top stuff.

I know very well what kass brings as I'm a fan if his. But as you can see if your following along he is suspended, so someone has to step up . I was hopeful Benson can catch some traction this time around as he is one of our future prospects and need him to turn out. Kass also goes through slumps as all Oiler fans know and he needs to get back to the level he is able to play at to be effective. We have limited nhl players as it is and are now down another

 

[Oilslick941611]

What he did was stupid, you can’t kick people.

 

[booyakasha]

I got a kick out of reading all the irrational tweets and posts the last couple of days.
A lot of people went mental.

 

[Ritchie Valens]

@Rodd from Leduc

I remember you asking if there was a record for who had the shortest time between suspensions.

Mark Boroweicki with the Sens went five days between visits to the principal's office in 2018. He was suspended for one game on October 23rd then suspended again October 29th for three games.

Edit: I forgot to add I have no idea if this is the record, but it's got to be or very damn close.

 

[Oil Dood]

I am totally fine with what Kassian got, no questions asked about that.

I am not however ok with a double standard that the league has always had. What Chara did was pretty bad and all he got was a fine, that was not good enough.

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

I got a kick out of reading all the irrational tweets and posts the last couple of days.
A lot of people went mental.

I decided to punt commenting on this due to the leg up a lot of others had on the subject yesterday.

The suspension seems about right to me and is less than I thought Parros’ dart board would demand.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Its almost liek thats when he was asked to be the 2nd best player on the top line

Could be a bit of both. Kassian was part of the Xmas time underperformance that plagued the team and had 1 assist in 4gp while McDrai were still on his line. Drai afairc started getting the regular minutes on his own line in January.

Kass play fell off somewhere around Dec 20. He never sustains top play, the question was whether he would this time. One would think he could contribute something in another month of play with McDavid..

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

What was Charas intent?

Cross checking a guy’s chin is a far more normal and explainable “hockey play” than kicking a guy in the chest with your skate.

Not saying what Chara did wasn’t idiotic, but the difference in the two plays shouldn’t be difficult to decipher for a rational adult that watches and/or plays the game of hockey.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Cross checking a guy’s chin is a far more normal and explainable “hockey play” than kicking a guy in the chest with your skate.

Not saying what Chara did wasn’t idiotic, but the difference in the two plays shouldn’t be difficult to decipher for a rational adult that watches and/or plays the game of hockey.

Yep. Plus that the illogic of whatabout inevitably results in no visible standards as one can always find worse examples or worse punishments. That just demonstrates a continuum of variability. The bottom line being the moment Kass *decided* to kick a player with a skate he was speed dialing the NHL hotline to spin the suspension roulette wheel. The moment this happned it was going to be a multiple game suspension. Why do it?

The what about Chara stuff is just disconnected noise. The two actions have zero similarity. Further, cross checking a player, even in the face, with your stick has never been eliminated from the game and is still part of a lot of hockey play. Kicking somebody with a skate hasn't been an acceptable thing for the last Century of hockey if it ever was..

Few things in hockey are more reviled than kicking somebody with a skate. Kass rang that bell. The reaction in hockey, always, is that kicking an opponent with your skate is completely unacceptable and indefensible.

 

[Fatass]

I hate the Oilers, but always cheer fir Kass. he’s in Big Buff likeable territory for me. Love how he plays.
This suspension is a joke. 2-3 games was fair. DPOS is wrong. Kass is getting treated unfairly because he spoke out publicly against the Tkatchuk ruling.

 

[guymez]

Cross checking a guy’s chin is a far more normal and explainable “hockey play” than kicking a guy in the chest with your skate.

Not saying what Chara did wasn’t idiotic, but the difference in the two plays shouldn’t be difficult to decipher for a rational adult that watches and/or plays the game of hockey.

You are talking about a League that penalizes a player 2 minutes for high sticking an opponent and breaking his jaw and 4 minutes when he clips an opponents lip with his stick and draws blood.

So I wouldnt be so quick to throw around insults and claim that the League uses obvious rational thinking in their decision making.

Besides the actual point of my initial response was to illustrate that intent has very little to do with their decision making.