The NHL’s Department of Player Safety will hold a hearing with Tampa Bay Lightning defenceman Mikael Sergachev for his hit to the head on Toronto Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner on Thursday.
While in a footrace for a rolling puck near the Lightning zone, Marner was hooked by Tampa defender Victor Hedman, knocking him off balance. As Marner tried to coral the puck, Sergachev skated into the play in an apparent attempt to cut him off from the puck. Instead of blocking Marner’s path, Sergachev delivered a high hit that made contact with the Maple Leafs winger’s head, forcing it to snap back.
Members of the Leafs criticized the hit after the game.
“I didn’t like it at all,” captain John Tavares said. “I thought Mitchy was pretty exposed, no chance to really protect himself or see it coming. Didn’t like it at all. Hit him right in the head. We want that stuff out of our game. (Suspension) should be at least talked about.”
Sergachev was assessed a two-minute penalty for an illegal check to the head following the play. Marner, who had two assists in Thursday’s game, wasn’t forced to miss time, playing over 25 minutes.
Marner said Sergachev tapped him on the shin pads and apologized for the hit in the second period, though he elected not to weigh in on whether or not it was a suspension-worthy play, saying he hadn’t seen it again yet to know exactly what happened.
When determining if a player could have avoiding making the contact, several factors are considered:
(i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not “picked” as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.
(ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.
(iii) Whether the opponent materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.
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