Philadelphia Flyers forward Brayden Schenn was suspending by the NHL for 3 games for charging TJ Oshie, which seems surprisingly harsh.
After the Philadelphia Flyers were eliminated by the Washington Capitals on Sunday, the NHL department of player safety announced that Brayden Schenn would have a phone hearing regarding supplemental discipline for his high hit on TJ Oshie.
The fact that he was having a hearing at all indicated that he would probably get suspended. What surprised many was what came next; a decision to suspend Schenn for 3 games. The NHL explained themselves with this video:
Getting these video explanations from the NHL is certainly a big step up, from the past, but they don’t exactly clarify every decision.
Schenn was suspended three games for charging, but it is worth noting suspensions for charging are relatively rare. According to Wikipedia, there is only one other suspension for charging this year, back in October in to Tyson Barrie for charging and interference. Last season there were two: Rinaldo was suspended 8 games for charging and boarding Kris Letang, and Niklas Kronwall was suspended 1 playoff game for charging Nikita Kucherov.
The most comparable incident is the Barrie charge/interference play that also received a three game suspension. Here’s the NHL’s video explanation of that play.
From an objective point of view, one factor working against Barrie was that the victim was injured, whereas Oshie only briefly left the game after Schenn’s hit. Working against Schenn was that he has a history of a fine and a suspension. Let’s assume these two factors cancel one another out, and just subjectively consider the hits.
In both hits there is a distinct “launching” element with the Schenn and Barrie leaving their feet. One big difference, however, is that Barrie’s hit was also interference. Making a hit that violates two rules illustrates the predatory nature of Barrie’s, throwing a hit that is illegal simply by “launching”, but also illegal to make any aggressive contact because it is late and gratuitous to making a hockey play.
Schenn’s hit does not have this predatory nature. Schenn did leave his feet, and also made substantial contact with Oshie’s head, but was only an inch or so from being a perfect legal shoulder-to-shoulder check. There could be no such confusion on the Barrie hit.
The context of the hit could further exonerate Schenn. One, it was made in the playoffs, which are generally more physical. Two, this was a particularly nasty series, in which there were several dangerous hits delivered by both teams. Perhaps it is telling that neither referee on the ice thought the hit was illegal in the moment, given the violent nature of the series.
An unspoken factor in the Schenn suspension video is the Caps complaining about Schenn during the series. Caps bloggers were making lists of objectionable Schenn checks, while the Capitals themselves formally submitted Schenn for review to the NHL.
Was this hit the one that broke the camel’s back for Schenn in the series? Did the Caps game the system with their complaining? We’ll never know for sure.
I personally will not completely let Schenn off the hook. He was jumping around in the series, and that’s dangerous. I would support a serious NHL crackdown on players driving up into hits to protect the head, but I also don’t believe for one second that’s what the NHL is doing here with this suspension for Schenn. It simply remains a frustrating reality how the Flyers somehow earned two suspensions in this tough series with the Caps, while the Caps barely even picked up minor penalties for some equally dangerous plays.