The NHL has suspended Rangers forward Dan Carcillo ten games for abuse of an official during last night’s game three of the Eastern Conference Final between the Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers.
Carcillo hit the arm of linesman Scott Driscoll who was breaking up a fight. Carcillo was trying to get at Brandon Prust who was already engaged in a fight with Derek Dorsett. Here is the video of the incident.
Carcillo was assessed as making intentional contact with the official under rule 40 of the NHL rule book. Such a ruling means an automatic 10-game minimum suspension. If the league had believed it was an attempt to injure the official, the penalty would have been a minimum 20 games.
The Penalty means the only way Carcillo could play again in this year’s playoffs would be if the Rangers defeat the Canadiens in 7 games, and the Stanley Cup final also goes seven games. In such case he would be eligible to play the final game.
Carcillo has played eight games for the Rangers in the 2014 playoffs, scoring two goals.
The Rangers and Carcillo were upset with Prust due to a late hit that injured Derek Stepan. Prust will have a telephone hearing with the NHL Department of player safety later today.
Alain Vigneault had some curious logic in defending his player.
“What saddens me about that hit, if the call is made on the ice, we’re on a five-minute power play,” Vigneault said, “and what happened to Dan Carcillo — and what Dan did is inexcusable and he is going to pay a big price for it — but if the call is made on the ice, he’s not put in that position.”
While I agree that Prust should have been penalized, and the Rangers have a legit gripe on that missed call, that is no excuse for hitting an official. There is never an excuse for hitting an official. Hockey is a fast game and officials miss calls all the time… such as a bad tripping call on Alex Galchenyuk that led to a Martin St. Louis powerplay goal in game 2, or the second period penalty on Brendan Gallagher that probably should have been a call against Ryan McDonagh. However, no missed call, or anything else, is ever an excuse to assault an official. None.
This is the sixth suspension of Carcillo’s career, but first since January 2012. It is also Carcillo’s second suspension under rule 40 for abuse of officials.
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Main Photo Credit: Getty Images
