Whenever a devastating hit is delivered, it doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s deemed clean or dirty.\u00a0For most teams around the NHL, it\u2019s an injustice that will be rectified almost immediately\u00a0on the ice. It may sound archaic, but there is also an element of togetherness\u00a0that develops\u00a0from those actions. Standing up for your teammates brings a group closer together and you\u2019d be hard-pressed to find any Stanley Cup winners that didn\u2019t embody that quality.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In addition to creating unity, one of the other reasons many players\u00a0might\u00a0feel it\u2019s necessary for an immediate\u00a0reaction\u00a0when a teammate goes down\u00a0is that they\u2019ve lost confidence that the appropriate punishment will be handed down by the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The NHL needs to do more to deter\u00a0questionable hits<\/p>\n
The Department of Player Safety takes\u00a0a\u00a0ton of criticism from folks online for lacking consistency with its discipline and being too\u00a0lenient with punishments, but let\u2019s start by\u00a0acknowledging that it has\u00a0a very difficult job. Hockey at the NHL level is an incredibly fast game\u00a0and\u00a0major\u00a0collisions are going to be inevitable. Determining intent or how\u00a0much time someone had to adjust their path isn\u2019t easy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That said,\u00a0the DOPS\u00a0can\u00a0be its own worst enemy\u00a0at times\u00a0and invite that aforementioned criticism, too. Regarding the Gudas hit on Matthews, shortly after the game, it was reported that the Anaheim Ducks defender would only have a phone hearing. That meant Gudas could only be suspended\u00a0for a maximum of five games.\u00a0It\u2019s hard to find\u00a0an exact comparable for every infraction, but the closest thing\u00a0here\u00a0might be\u00a0Matt Cooke\u2019s kneeing suspension from the 2014 playoffs,<\/a>\u00a0where he received\u00a0a seven-game ban. Like Gudas, Cooke had a lengthy suspension history and\u00a0giving him seven post-season games sent a real message.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now, you can argue whether Gudas or Cooke\u2019s hit was worse, but it\u2019s the process that\u2019s flawed here. Why\u00a0rush so quickly to announce just a phone hearing when the DOPS could\u2019ve opted for an in-person one? That would\u2019ve allowed them\u00a0time\u00a0to collect more information\u00a0and possibly see the result of Matthews\u2019 injury before making a ruling.\u00a0The DOPS still could\u2019ve\u00a0given\u00a0Gudas five games through an in-person hearing if it felt that was all it required, or they could\u2019ve handed out more.\u00a0Instead, everyone was already up in arms\u00a0before the ruling,\u00a0knowing\u00a0Gudas wouldn\u2019t get more than five games.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gudas\u2019s suspension was just the seventh\u00a0this season for an on-ice infraction and only the third that resulted in more than a one-game ban.\u00a0There have been dozens of questionable hits that didn\u2019t even result in a fine and\u00a0it feels like we\u2019re reaching a tipping point\u00a0where the DOPS\u00a0is\u00a0going to start becoming a hotter topic\u00a0around the league, potentially even\u00a0as early as\u00a0the\u00a0general manager meetings next week.\u00a0<\/p>\n Looking at the current system, it\u2019s hard to imagine\u00a0any player fears serious\u00a0repercussions and sees\u00a0the DOPS as a deterrent for egregious hits.\u00a0<\/p>\n You\u2019d think the league, maybe more than anyone, would be motivated to make sure their stars were more protected. In addition to Matthews, Sidney Crosby\u00a0has also been on the shelf due to a hit from Gudas, albeit at the Olympics and one that was deemed legal.\u00a0Brady\u00a0Tkachuk was on the wrong end of a sucker punch from Logan Stanley which only saw a one-game suspension back in January. Tampa Bay\u00a0forward and Canadian Olympian\u00a0Brandon Hagel took a forearm to the head from Seth Jones\u00a0earlier this season that went unpunished.\u00a0<\/p>\n These are only a handful of many incidents, but you get the point.\u00a0Fans pay money to go watch players like Matthews,\u00a0and if the league has its top\u00a0talent\u00a0out of action, it\u2019s problematic for the product.\u00a0<\/p>\n The NFL has taken a much stricter approach\u00a0in recent years\u00a0to calling things like roughing the passer, for example, in part because it knows quarterbacks make up some of the league\u2019s biggest stars. Fans may complain\u00a0about soft calls here and there, but the NFL doesn\u2019t care. Its primary goal is keeping quarterbacks on the field.<\/p>\n When it comes to\u00a0the NHL, no one wants to remove the physicality from the game.\u00a0That, combined with the speed of play, is one of\u00a0the main reasons fans tune in on a regular basis. But there has to be a happy medium. Right now,\u00a0it doesn\u2019t feel like\u00a0anyone\u00a0fears\u00a0any\u00a0significant consequences\u00a0from the DOPS\u00a0\u2014 and that could be a dangerous thing\u00a0when it comes to player safety.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rick Bowness should be coach of the year<\/p>\n It seemed almost certain the Columbus Blue Jackets<\/a> were headed for another year without post-season hockey until Rick Bowness arrived on the scene. The Blue Jackets were dead last in the Eastern Conference when Bowness was hired in mid-January, and since then, Columbus has taken off.\u00a0It is 15-2-4\u00a0under Bowness and suddenly sits just\u00a0one\u00a0point out of a playoff spot behind\u00a0both\u00a0the Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings<\/a> in the wild card.\u00a0Not to mention the Blue Jackets are\u00a0now\u00a0just two points behind\u00a0the\u00a0Pittsburgh Penguins\u00a0and New York Islanders\u00a0in the Metro.\u00a0It\u2019s been a miraculous turnaround and one worthy of a coach of the year honour for Bowness if the Blue Jackets can finish the job and get into the playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bowness definitely deserves consideration for what he\u2019s accomplished since joining the Blue Jackets, but it\u2019s still come in a small sample size.\u00a0The veteran bench boss would\u2019ve only been in charge of Columbus for 38 games this season, and even if it sneaks in, it would be hard to overlook a few coaches who have put their teams in excellent positions over 82 games. Jon Cooper,\u00a0for example,\u00a0could be at the top of the list given the Tampa Bay Lightning\u2019s injury situation this season. Tampa has been without key players for a significant portion of the campaign, and its blue line has been decimated at times, yet the Lightning still have the sixth-best record in the NHL. It\u2019s hard to believe Cooper has never won the award before, but this very well may finally be his year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The\u00a0Pacific is the worst division\u00a0we\u2019ve seen\u00a0in more than a decade<\/p>\n Coming into the season, I think there was a widespread belief that the easiest path in the playoffs might be through the Metropolitan Division. But with\u00a0teams like the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins having great years, and\u00a0the Carolina Hurricanes\u00a0leading the East and sitting third in the NHL, that is no longer the case. The softest division is clearly the Pacific, with the Edmonton Oilers<\/a> and Vegas Golden Knights\u00a0wading through inconsistent seasons.\u00a0The Ducks\u00a0were leading the division until Saturday with a negative goal differential,\u00a0and the entire Pacific\u00a0would be no better than 10th\u00a0if they were in the East. You could make an argument that this is the worst division we\u2019ve seen in more than 10 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n It might sound a little weird saying\u00a0that a division that boasts Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Jack Eichel\u00a0and Macklin Celebrini is the worst we\u2019ve seen in quite some time, but it\u2019s a fair criticism.\u00a0Utah, which is in the first wild-card spot, could easily end up finishing ahead of the Pacific winner in points but not have home-ice advantage in a first-round matchup.\u00a0That hasn\u2019t happened since the NHL adopted this new playoff format more than a decade ago.\u00a0Vegas is leading the group now, but is actually 31-36 if you count overtime losses \u2014 not to mention the\u00a0Golden Knights\u00a0and Oilers\u00a0both have some of the worst goaltending in the league.\u00a0Seattle, San Jose\u00a0and Los Angeles, who are\u00a0battling\u00a0for the final wild-card\u00a0spot, would\u00a0all\u00a0be\u00a0at least\u00a010 points behind the playoff cutoff line in the East.\u00a0<\/p>\n All this is one of the reasons it made sense for McDavid\u00a0to stick around in Edmonton for a few years, as the Pacific should give him an excellent path to get back to the Stanley Cup Final this year and beyond.\u00a0<\/p>\n Red Wings\u00a0at risk of missing\u00a0the playoffs<\/p>\n Don\u2019t\u00a0look now, but the Detroit Red Wings are suddenly in a very precarious position in the standings. It once looked like a\u00a0lock\u00a0that the Wings would be heading to the post-season for the first time in almost a decade, but suddenly, Detroit is only\u00a0one\u00a0point up on the Columbus Blue Jackets\u00a0after losing five\u00a0of six\u00a0games. Ottawa, Washington and Philadelphia are\u00a0still in striking distance of\u00a0the Red Wings\u00a0as well. Detroit is now the only playoff team in the East with a negative goal differential and if the Wings are not careful, their playoff drought may not come to an end after all this season.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are a few reasons the Wings could be in big trouble here. The first is that their captain is sidelined with an injury, and Dylan Larkin is expected to miss at least another couple of weeks. Detroit\u2019s centre depth takes a massive hit without Larkin, as JT Compher is now in the middle of the top line. Second, the Red Wings’ schedule is far from easy the rest of the way. Detroit has the seventh-toughest remaining schedule, with games against the likes of Montreal, Buffalo, Minnesota and Tampa Bay still to come. <\/p>\n Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.<\/p>\n Latest episode<\/a><\/p>\n Finally, there are fair questions to ask about what Detroit did at the deadline. The Wings added Justin Faulk and David Perron, but Steve Yzerman could\u2019ve taken a bigger swing or two for a team that is desperately trying to get back into the playoffs in a wide-open Eastern Conference.\u00a0It would be a stunning turn of events, but at this point, not all that shocking if Detroit isn\u2019t playing spring hockey once again.\u00a0<\/p>\n There\u2019s still about 15 games or so left for most teams, but the goal of the year may already be decided. San Jose Sharks forward William Eklund submitted his bid for the best goal of the 2025-26 campaign on Thursday night, and it was a doozy.\u00a0<\/p>\n Not only did Eklund dangle around the defender, but his\u00a0tally was filled with a handful of incredible athletic feats, like showing great hand-eye coordination by batting the puck out of mid air while essentially in flight.\u00a0Is it\u00a0unquestionably the best we\u2019ve seen this season?<\/p>\n Eklund\u2019s goal was incredible, don\u2019t get me wrong, but I actually think another one on the very same night was the best we\u2019ve seen this season. Matt Duchene<\/a> carving up the Edmonton Oilers’ defence is at the top of my list right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"32](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/32THOUGHTS_500X500_ICON_V2-500x360.jpg\"){kind=icon}
32 Thoughts: The Podcast<\/p>\n