Hockey fans had to grimace yet again Wednesday night, as yet another serious injury rocked the NHL community. Just nine days after Rich Peverley collapsed on the bench during the eventually cancelled Dallas-Columbus game, Paul Ranger was taken off on a stretcher after being hit from behind by Tampa Bay Lightning forward Alex Killorn.
With ten seconds left in the first, Victor Hedman chipped the puck deep into Toronto’s zone. Ranger and Killorn chased the puck into the corner, where the two braced for contact. As Ranger positioned his body for the hit, he over-skated the puck, and at the last second turned. Killorn finished his check, which sent Ranger into the boards head first.
The entire Maple Leafs’ bench stood over their injured teammate as the medical staff strapped the blueliner onto a stretcher and rushed him off the ice. The first period was ended with four seconds remaining of the clock, with those seconds added to the second period. It was reported that the 29-year-old Whitby, Ont. native was stable, alert and conscious in hospital Wednesday night.
Attention now shifts to the potential supplemental discipline Killorn will receive. The 24-year-old Halifax, N.S. native received a five-minute major and a game misconduct. The NHL Department of Player Safety will take a look at a hit, and should a hearing be required, it will be scheduled over the next few days.
There are numerous factors that should result in a low suspension – if any. The Tampa Bay forward, who is in his second NHL season, does not have a disciplinary history. He has never been suspended, and has yet to fight during his pro career.
As for the hit itself, the NHL will look at the body position of the two players as they went into the corner. Upon review of the hit, Ranger looks at Killorn while dropping his shoulder, indicating he is preparing for contact. Killorn does the same, preparing to hit the Leafs’ defenseman as the two go into the boards. However, as Aaron Ward of TSN explained, when the players were 4.7 feet apart, Ranger looks back towards the puck, realized he’d overskated it, and quickly turned his body towards the puck. With the players that close to both each other and the boards, it only gives Killorn 3/10 of a second to react. The result is of course catastrophic, as Killorn cannot control his speed or path, and is forced to hit Ranger with the principle point of contact being Ranger’s numbers.
While the league is trying to take head and neck injuries out of the game, it is hard to stop one of these injuries where the victim is at fault. Ranger should not be leaving himself vulnerable after dropping his shoulder to connect with Killorn. It’s terrible to see a player go down, but hits like this serve to remind us of the dangers hockey presents, and the caution players need to be exercising. It’s the defenseman’s responsibility when tracking a puck into the corner’s to angle his body away from the boards. Ugly hits like this unfortunately happen when defender’s make a loose error or lose focus.
If the NHL decides to schedule a hearing with Killorn, a phone hearing would make sense, where the maximum suspension would be five games. Killorn may not have intended to injure, but from the NHL’s perspective he did check Ranger square in the numbers and knock him out of the game.
The league has suspended hits like this in the past, where the victim was at fault for leaving himself vulnerable with not enough time for the hitter to readjust. Nazem Kadri got away with one against Codi Ceci this year, where the NHL deemed Kadri was unable to prevent the hit. Tampa will argue – with validity – that Killorn had even less time than Kadri to pull out form the hit. It’s in Shanahan’s hands now, and he always tends to leave us guessing.
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