NHL fines Sharks $100,000 after general manager’s comments
SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks were fined $100,000 by the NHL on Saturday because of General Manager Doug Wilson‘s public criticism of the league’s decision this week to suspend Sharks forward Raffi Torres.
The NHL said in a statement that $25,000 was for violating a league rule prohibiting formal team statements to the media within 48 hours of a disciplinary suspension. The remaining $75,000 was for “the inappropriate nature of the comments.”
Torres delivered an open-ice hit to Kings center Jarret Stoll in Game 1 of the teams’ Western Conference semifinal series, resulting in a suspected concussion for Stoll. He is not expected to return soon. Torres appeared at a hearing in New York on Thursday and was suspended for the duration of this series under Rule 48.1, which pertains to illegal checks to the head. Torres is a multiple-repeat offender.
On Friday the Sharks issued a statement in which Wilson disputed the ruling by Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s director of player safety, that Torres had targeted Stoll’s head and made it the principal point of contact.
Wilson added, “Comparing the facts of this incident against the actual wording of Rule 48.1, it appears that the NHL has not only made an inappropriate application of this rule but is trying to make an example out of a player who is being judged on past events, one who has changed his game dramatically this season and taken only six minor penalties in 39 games.”
The Sharks had no comment in response to the fine.
An early delay
It didn’t take long for that old dreaded delay-of-game penalty to become a factor in Game 3. Kings rookie defenseman Jake Muzzin shot the puck over the glass to get it, a mere 1:30 into the game, and the Sharks needed four seconds on their ensuing power play to score.
The same penalty loomed large in the Kings’ stirring comeback at the end of Game 2. They scored two late goals, the first of the two coming with the Kings holding a two-man advantage after Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic inadvertently shot the puck over the glass.
Injured Kings defenseman Matt Greene knows what that sinking feeling is like.
“Late in the game the ice is pretty chippy,” Greene said. “You go to whack a puck where earlier in the game, earlier the period, you’d be able to crank it right off the glass.
“If you talk to any D-man that’s been playing long enough, they’ve been on the wrong side of one of those plays at pivotal times. It’s definitely something that [stinks] when it happens to you. Nobody is really immune to it.”
Pearson debuts
Kings left wing Tanner Pearson, who made his NHL debut Saturday, was once a water and stick boy for his hometown team, the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League. That happened to be the former junior team of Kings center Mike Richards, who won a Memorial Cup there in 2003.
Pearson was the final pick in the first round at the 2012 entry draft last year. The Kings held that pick because Columbus opted not to use it after acquiring it in the Jack Johnson trade. It also happened to be Pearson’s third year of draft eligibility.
That night, Kings captain Dustin Brown welcomed him with a tweet: “Congrats to lakingsdraft pick Tanner Pearson. Enjoy it tonight, work starts tomorrow.”
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