Exhibit A: Joe Thornton’s hit on David Perron
Exhibit B: Marc Staal’s hit on Matt Stajan
From the video, we see:
- Both Staal and Thornton are moving North / South.
- Both Staal and Thornton make contact with the head.
- Both Staal and Thornton keep their elbows down.
- Neither Perron nor Stajan saw the hit coming.
- Both Perron and Stajan have difficulty getting off the ice.
Now let’s look at the on-ice differences:
- No penalty was called on Marc Staal by the on-ice officials.
- Thornton was called for a blind-side hit and was awarded a 5 minute major and a game misconduct.
And the differences from how the league viewed it:
- The NHL deemed the Marc Staal hit clean.
- The NHL deemed Joe Thornton’s hit worthy of a 2 game suspension.
Color me confused.