Suspended: Spezza 6 games (Reduced to 4 games) | Pionk 2 games

[SprDaVE]

- Admit it, you're mad at the lack of consistency, not the suspension Spezza got. He did what he did and deserves this.
- Parros probably had no say in this, he's just a mustache to put in front of a camera.
- No one here has any idea what discipline refs face. Just because they don't make it public doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
- Not one player on the Leafs is mad at Spezza for that play.

Basically, there's nothing to be upset about here.

I mean yeah. 99% of people are saying the suspension is fine, it's the consistency and precedence that is insane. Biting a player gets you less games than a bad hockey hit gone wrong. A stick swing like a baseball bat at players ankles is a fine. You can obliterate a players head off with an elbow and it's not as bad. You can destroy a players knees repeatedly and you'll never face more than 5 games. So yeah... no sh** it's the consistency.

Parros is 100% responsible for the suspension decisions. It's his department. Literally his department. What a weird thing to say or dispute.

Refs don't face discipline or public scrutiny.

 

[Leaf Rocket]

It just gets better and better for the Jets eh?

saw your post...apparently you as a leaf mod can't post anything...but its all right if the others who arent leaf mods can chirp apparently. fun times.

 

[PromisedLand]

saw your post...apparently you as a leaf mod can't post anything...but its all right if the others who arent leaf mods can chirp apparently. fun times.

regardless if you are a Leaf mod or a Leaf fan if you post on the mainboards questioning anything anti-leaf you are out to lunch.

I guess hockey gods had another thing in mind for the jets/canes game tonight; just to show some jets fans "how it feels" to be on the receiving end

 

[htpwn]

6 games is about what I expected (I said 10 yesterday, partly sarcastically). IMO it is too long, given the precedent and given Spezza's long career, but it is the DPOS and Spezza is wearing the blue-and-white. So it is pretty much par for the course.

I do think the appeal speaks volumes, because (A) I doubt it changes anything; and (B) The six games off is really not the end of the world for the Leafs or Spezza. The cap hit hurts, I suppose, but Spezza has been load-managed in the past and it wouldn't hurt him to get a few days off. In other words, the appeal is a matter of principle, and along with Keefe's comments the last few days, I think it suggests a real frustration right through the organization about the way this team is treated.

To be clear, I'm not alleging conspiracy. I think the Leafs are a clean team and that works to our disadvantage because of the ridiculous manner games are called. Although given Meier's history at this point, if I were in Leafs management, I would be demanding that he never officiate a Leafs game again. Honestly, Tanenbaum should be showing up in-person/joining the Zoom call for the appeal, just to show the flag and make the point that the organization is speaking in one voice, right to the Board of Directors.

 

[Enga Olly]

regardless if you are a Leaf mod or a Leaf fan if you post on the mainboards questioning anything anti-leaf you are out to lunch.

I guess hockey gods had another thing in mind for the jets/canes game tonight; just to show some jets fans "how it feels" to be on the receiving end

my comment got removed yesterday, posting reality based comments about Leaf Derangement Syndrome is not allowed

 

[Lauro]

Two weeks off = welcomed break for the old man.
It was worth it, a big thank you from Leafs Nation, Mr. Spezza.

 

[Gabriel426]

What happened in the Jets and Canes game? Only know they lost

 

[Canada4Gold]

Not sure why everyone is surprised. I can't remember the last time the league offered an "in person" hearing and didn't give out 5+. The moment that was announced this was clearly going to be at least that long. They don't have to per the rules, but once they decided before the meeting they wanted to give him 5+ that was going to happen. Nothing said in the meeting was going to change it. It's how this stupid league works. The meeting barely matter at all.

 

[Pinkcat]

I can change to 22500. Wasn't meant to be a scam with proceeds going to charity. I can understand why you would have removed it. Was just trying to make something positive out of the experience. Sorry

I actually think it is a great idea to support a charity at this time of year while also supporting an outstanding representative of the game. I naively believe no player should ever be put in that position of having to police a game due to incompetence of the officiating crew.

 

[JayfromNB1219]

View attachment 488313

He may have "followed through" more towards the shoulder than the head, but that is Spezza's knee on Pionk's cheek/chin.

good pionk deserves it in spades...goon running someone more skillled...tired of this idea on the boards that the skilled guys should be run by the junkers who are there burely because they can throw a check,,,Pionk does not deserve NHL but dont tell that to the cr@ppy jets

 

[colchar]

He did what he did and deserves this.

He deserved a suspension, but not this suspension. Much more egregious acts have resulted in shorter suspensions, or no suspension at all.

Parros probably had no say in this, he's just a mustache to put in front of a camera.

What is so badly broken in your brain that you actually think that?

 

[Blanche Blanche]

A suspension well worth it for sticking up for your teammate nastily injured on a reckless and deliberate play.

yep. It’ll make everyone second think dirty plays.

next game, anyone from any other team please take out PIONK. Get his knees. Slash him. Fight him.

someone should shoulder his blindside like TOM Wilson.

what’s funny is if this was Wilson it’ll be one game and a hearing.

spezzas only regret is not sending PIONK sleeping

 

[Alamo Leafer]

The Leafs should recognize his 1200 games played and make certain to include the hit in the in the tribute video. Give his kids a nice gift, as well

and show some of Marchand's dirty hits with # of suspension stamped for each.
MLSE can afford the fine

 

[WTFMAN99]

What happened in the Jets and Canes game? Only know they lost

Ian Cole knee on knee with Scheifele, same ref from the Leafs-Jets game, Cole got 5 minutes and an ejection. Literally doing the exact same thing in the Leafs/Jets game prevents a ton of shit from going down.

 

[Mickey Marner]

I think the lesson here is to retaliate Tom Wilson style and just beat the wheels off of unwilling combatants. Spezza and Kadri have thoroughly demonstrated that retaliatory hits get the book thrown at them.

 

[1specter]

Spezza is a Leafs legend and should be protected at all costs. f*** you Parros

 

[al secord]

Spezza's next title should be Director of Player Safety for your Toronto Maple Leafs.

 

[ACC1224]

And if he ends up sitting longer than his ultimate suspension while waiting for a successful appeal, there is no recourse for games lost, but he gets his salary back for the games he shouldn't have missed

I can't imagine an appeal taking that long. Wrapped up by Friday latest I would think.

 

[justashadowof]

Ian Cole knee on knee with Scheifele, same ref from the Leafs-Jets game, Cole got 5 minutes and an ejection. Literally doing the exact same thing in the Leafs/Jets game prevents a ton of shit from going down.

P.S. Worse kind of knee.

 

[Brobust]

The players, coaches and management aren't allowed to talk about officiating. The media covering the team refuses to talk about it.

 

[AvroArrow]

What happened in the Jets and Canes game? Only know they lost

Scheifele got a knee on knee and the guy got 5 mins and ejected and the Jets board is crying, when literally the game prior a much more predatory knee on knee was dished out by Pionk and they claim it was an accident not dirty, shouldn't have been a penalty.

 

[JT AM da real deal]

Joke of a league with Bettman/Jacobs in charge of it .. 2 games for throwing out your knee to end a guys hockey career (and victim is out for 3 weeks) vs 6 games for a knee to head (where victim did not miss a shift) .. actions speak louder than words to us players .. the actions of league/ref will dictate future actions .. so expect Pionk and/or Dubois to get kneed next game .. someone needs to be out for 3 weeks minimum .. it is SAD but it is da reality of hockey .. retribution will occur as league did not handle this situation FAIRLY .. real simple folks but it least it makes next game a game to watch

 

[therealkoho]

- Admit it, you're mad at the lack of consistency, not the suspension Spezza got. He did what he did and deserves this.

he did deserve the suspension as it was a hit to the head, consider though that Claude Lemeiux who was a known miscreant got 2 games for his hit on Draper which was as dirty as it could get

consider Andy Sutton who was no stranger to the disciplinary committee got 5 games from Shanahan for a shoulder to the head of Landeskog, Shanahan handed out the same 5 games for Duncan Keith who's no angel by any stretch when he knocked Daniel Sedin out with an elbow to the yap

- Parros probably had no say in this, he's just a mustache to put in front of a camera.
- No one here has any idea what discipline refs face. Just because they don't make it public doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
- Not one player on the Leafs is mad at Spezza for that play.

Basically, there's nothing to be upset about here.

Spezza has been a pretty professional type player who's not given to dirty plays, who may have only had 1 hearing previously and that I'm not even sure of. 6 games imco is a little heavy, 3 games maybe 4 would've been right for a player with his history

Who can be upset by the mysterious logic of the NHL disciplinary committee, there are no established parameters for anything although the knee on knee seems to be a pretty standard 2 games for 1st timers anything else though, WTF knows?

 

[therealkoho]

The players, coaches and management aren't allowed to talk about officiating. The media covering the team refuses to talk about it.

this surprised me to no end
Opinion | The referees were responsible for letting the Leafs-Jets game turn into a ‘gong show’

Unlike certain striped-shirted, whistle-carrying observers of Sunday’s Maple Leafs-Jets game, give Auston Matthews credit for calling it as he saw it.
“It wasn’t really hockey,” is how the Leafs centreman described the third period of Toronto’s 6-3 loss in Winnipeg. “It was just a bit of a gong show.”

There are those who would blame the Leafs for turning it into one. And they wouldn’t necessarily be wrong. Toronto’s Jason Spezza is facing an in-person hearing with the NHL’s department of player safety on account of his predatory knee to the head of Winnipeg defenceman Neil Pionk. Even though Pionk was suspended two games on Monday for sticking out a knee to clip Toronto defenceman Rasmus Sandin — even though Pionk used what the league described as “forceful, dangerous and direct knee-on-knee contact” in felling Sandin — there is no justifying Spezza’s clear intent in targeting Pionk with a dangerous head hit.

You can’t justify it. But you can understand it. Because the whole unfortunate chain of events could have been avoided if the striped-shirted, whistle-carrying observers of the game had been doing their jobs as the game slid down the slippery slope from blowout to gong show.

 

[Al14]

I'm sick and tired of the unbalanced refereeing and the over the top punishment given out to the Leafs. Much worse incidents go unpunished around the league, especially to USA struggling teams.

What I hate the most is the SILENCE from MLSE and the Leafs front office. Go to the media and take the fines Shanahan. I know that he won't because he wants to keep his future NHL job opportunities intact. I still think he's an NHL puppet running our Leafs.

MLSE should hold back the 'Profit Sharing' payments to the obvious corrupt NHL !!!

Spezza did what he did knowing full well that the league would do nothing to punish Pionk because it was a Leaf he injured and NOT a Bruins player !!!

5 games is FAR TOO harsh for a player that has a CLEAN record !!! He would likely not have been punished like this if he had been a Arizona Coyote or Seattle Kraken player !!!

JMHO.