Brenden Dillon received a match penalty for this illegal check to the head of Noel Acciari. He’ll have an over the phone hearing today with the Department of Player Safety. The topic should be an angle of approach that doesn’t pick the head.
@St. Louis Blues
10 Comments
I agree. I don't believe there was malicious intent, but Dillon knew where Acciari's head was & I believe Acciari was aware of Dillon's presence. That is a situation where you must let up instead of following through on the hit. The contact was virtually all into the head with his shoulder & he's going to be suspended for the hit. Dillon is no choir boy either btw.
Social media is full of bad takes. I don't think this is as egregious as the results make it seem, but I like a suspension here to send a message to the league. I would push back on being a hockey play, as Dillon is challenging the puck and denying zone entry. Location on the ice matters here. I wouldn't feel the same if the hit was 10 feet forwards or backwards.
Less important is that these are 2 veterans in their 30s. They both know how to play to avoid this. If the positions had been reversed, Accari still would have been steamrolled. The suspension is for the player with the infraction though, so it makes a lot of sense to give Dillon a couple games.
In terms of club impact, Dillon won't lose his roster spot. The Jets honestly need to get Stanley into a few games down the stretch here, and Dillon's body could probably use as much rest as he can give it. A suspension is probably a net positive for the Jets organization.
Now that the 3 game sentence has been handed out, pretty close prediction here. The raising up before impact I think is really what probably pushed it to 3 games vs maybe 1 or 2. It's in situations like these that an old Kronwall-type hit would really have saved Dillon.
Should the NHL go the way of yhe NFL in calling head shots or defenseless player hits?
It's a good hit, players just don't know how to play hockey anymore, stop reaching like an idiot for every puck
The line is so incredibly thin on this hit that for me it begs the question do we just get rid of hitting in this game because no one knows what the hell's going on.
Dillon raised up so he didn't get steamrolled over. I challenge any player not to raise up when in dillons position and remain standing. Acciari was trying to avoid the hit and jump towards center putting himself in worse contact with the hit. Players no longer take the hit to make the play they try to dance around it. He clearly saw dillon so he should have just met him against the boards and get stood up rather than jump towards center and get blown up
This commentator gives a whole new level to boring, 2 seconds in DO NOT RECOMMEND CHANEL
Tough call? 1:44–1:48 dudes feet are 6" off the ice.
Oh No! not Cookie! 😭