Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin faced the media and did his best to explain the hit that led to his one game suspension. To his credit, the Captain said that his own suspension was “warranted”. As far as being able to comment on Joseph, and later on the unpunished hit by Benn that ultimately led to Larkin’s retribution, and Dylan was a bit tight lipped. He thought the Joseph hit was unnecessary, but isn’t sure he’s “allowed” to comment on the Benn situation.
I’ve been criticized by Kool…er, hockeybuzzed for mentioning both hits when talking about the Joseph incident. If Larkin hadn’t spent months in rehabilitation trying to avoid surgery after Benn’s unpunished (but clearly dirty) hit, his reaction to Joseph wouldn’t have been as severe. The callous nature of blog comment sections is to ignore the humanity of the players. What is frustrating is that we will likely never know what the league said about the Benn hit. All we know is the result. No punishment for a potentially career ending, unnecessary hit. (A bit like Shea Weber smacking Zetterberg’s head into the glass 3 times and breaking his helmet).
If I sound “frustrated”, I am. I do try to leave emotion to a minimum in this blog. Seeing your team’s captain assaulted twice in 2 regular season games (months apart) with no penalty should upset fans and writers. I don’t want “retribution” on Benn or Joseph, just some consistency. The league considers their “crackdown” on cross checks an appropriate enough response, though Joseph’s hit could be considered a cross check as well.
In this sport, we ignore a tainted process if we like the result. Connor McDavid doesn’t get suspended for an elbow. Well, he’s the face of the league and we need him on the ice. If Tom Wilson makes a hit that causes injury (but isn’t penalized and none of the refs thought it should be) you can call that hit “boarding” and admit that it’s so you can give a longer suspension. Check the headlines last year. DoPS said they changed the penalty because they wanted to suspend Wilson for a longer term. We’re stuck with a DoPS that has shown that they can do whatever they want with no pushback. Parros isn’t running the department. Bettman/Daly decide what they want and then he tries to make it work.
If Larkin, or any Redwing player, openly try to go after Benn or Joseph, you can guarantee they will face severe discipline. Your hands are tied. It will be a conga line to the penalty box or to the showers with ejections. I don’t know when the script gets flipped (if ever). Will another hit to Larkin’s neck or boarding penalty be the one that gets penalized? Or will the teammate who sticks up for him get a game misconduct and a 2 game suspension after another non call?
In short, the team needs to do their best to play (and stay in) the game. Refs miss calls. That’s easier to digest than DoPS issues because the refs aren’t allowed to use replay, camera angles, and have to make the call in real time. There is no future for this team if it becomes an on ice brawl every time something happens. There has to be balance to it.
When Detroit faces CBJ, my hope is that they play the game. There are players all over the league who will start to go after Larkin if they know it will derail the Wings. Those players have jobs for a reason. It’s to destroy a team from the inside out. Eventually, they’ll make the wrong hit. Joseph or Benn will put a McDavid or Matthews on IR and then there‘ s no escaping discipline. But, for Detroit to move ahead, they have to have a narrow focus on performance. The team doesn’t have respect in the league right now. That changes with the scoreboard, not the penalty box.
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • 
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