I feel like we’ve lost the plot on the Connor McDavid suspension - I’m nearly sick about talking about it so here is my last thoughts.

Connor McDavid absolutely deserved a suspension for what he did. A cross check to the face is 100% a suspendable hit and has no place in the game of hockey. No one should dispute that and anyone who does is simply wrong.

The issue remains consistency. McDavid and Myers were both awarded 3 game suspensions for their hits. I find it difficult to see how either player received 3 games when earlier this year, Timo Meier received a one game suspension for a very similar hit. A couple years ago, another star in the NHL in Austin Matthews received a two game suspension for a similar hit.

I don’t think there is an Oilers bias here but simply how the NHL does not have a standard for how they make decisions and are far more reactionary than proactive.

I do wonder if the NHL was going to hand out a two game suspension, a decision I would have thought to be fair, but then looked at the elbow on Johansson from a few games prior and felt they should have done something about that; and so tacked on another game. Then realized they couldn’t give McDavid a 3 game suspension and Myers a 2 game without causing an uproar and so gave both the same. Honestly it wouldn’t shock me if that was indeed the mindset of Player Safety.

For those who want to cite “Repeat Offender,” for McDavid, he did receive a suspension back in 2019 for an elbow but that does not affect this situation at all. The Repeat Offender clause is only if the suspension occurs within 18 months of the next suspension and only effects the salary that is forfeit. It has nothing to do with additional games being tacked on.

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I know plenty of fans from other teams are calling McDavid whiney and laughing at Oilers fans for being upset which is honestly fine. Sports is a rivalry and fans of other teams throwing insults and trolling is all part of being a sports fan. It’s all fine because we all know any fan would be livid if the same thing happened to one of their players.

This isn’t about McDavid and it’s not just about elite players. It’s about the NHL setting a standard that applies to all players, at all times of the game, whether it’s 15 seconds left in a game in January or in the first minute of a playoff game.

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Quick thought on tonight’s game and the bizarre narrative about Conor Garland being “Public Enemy #1” I don’t see any Oilers fans wanting to go after Garland tonight… not any of the intelligent ones anyways. What Garland did to McDavid on that play was a penalty, but it wasn’t some egregious horrible thing that the players need to get vengeance for. This feels like something coming mainly out of Vancouver media to try and drum up hype and maybe make their fans forget for a moment that two of their best players can’t stand to be around each other.

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The Oilers outshot and overall did a solid job at defending against the Washington Capitals but a couple bad giveaways both ended up in the back of the net. Add to that a rough goal to give up and the Capitals got away with a 3-2 victory, despite the Oilers outshooting them 32-14. It was the first time all season that Skinner has lost in back to back games.

Skinner has played some great hockey for the Oilers since the start of November and the Caps loss was his only real bad start in quite some time. It looks like Calvin Pickard will be between the pipes tonight but I expect Skinner back in against the Sabres on Saturday.

One area that Edmonton needs to find a way to succeed in McDavid's absence is the power play. With two minutes left in the game against the Capitals, the Oilers had a 6-4 power play with the goalie pulled. The Oilers played nearly the entire time on the outside perimeter and failed to create even any scoring chances. Especially without their captain, this team needs to work harder and simply get pucks on net and work from there as opposed to looking for the perfect cross ice pass.

Should be another great matchup against the Canucks tonight.

Thanks for reading.

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