Connor McDavid suggested it’s time for the NHL to start searching for a new process to handle supplementary discipline, saying players are feeling “a lot of frustration” about how the league is currently handling suspensions.

“I think the (NHL’s Department of Player Safety) has done their best. It’s not an easy thing to do,” McDavid told reporters in Edmonton on Sunday. “You know, with that being said, I think that there is reason to take a look at how the whole process works. If every time there’s a suspension, everybody complains about it, well, why don’t we take a look at the process and figure out if there’s a better way to make sure both parties are happy? Because it seems like there’s a lot of frustration there.”

McDavid spoke in the wake of Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas receiving a five-game suspension from the Department of Player Safety on Friday after ending Auston Matthews’ season with a knee-on-knee hit. The decision infuriated the Toronto Maple Leafs, who saw their captain suffer a Grade 3 MCL tear, and drew a sharp public rebuke from agent Judd Moldaver, who represents Matthews, McDavid and several other NHL players.

Discipline is collectively bargained between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association, which makes it notable that the game’s top player chose to weigh in on the matter.

Suspensions are currently handed down by George Parros, a former NHL tough guy who has run the league’s player safety department since September 2017. The league has total say on those hired to staff. Among the peculiarities of the discipline process for players is that the NHLPA represents both the offender and the victim in hearings.

There’s no third-party involvement in decisions, except in cases when a player receives a suspension of six games or longer and has the option to appeal to a neutral arbitrator.

The primary reason the Gudas incident has struck such a chord is because of his lengthy rap sheet, which now includes five suspensions covering 26 games, and the fact he so clearly led with the knee while making no apparent attempt to throw a clean hit. Plus, the resulting injury to Matthews will force the former Hart Trophy winner to miss the final 16 games of the Leafs’ regular season. He’ll just be starting rehab work when Gudas rejoins the Ducks lineup for a playoff push.

“In light of the obvious severity of the play, I am very disappointed and shocked that the league would allow for such a ruling,” Moldaver told The Athletic after Friday’s decision. “A phone hearing and five games is just laughable and preposterous. While the hearing process is pre-fixed in our CBA, that there was no further discipline is a reckless and ridiculous position for player safety.

“This decision results in a further loss of confidence in the disciplinary process for all players. Players and fans deserve better.

“The Player Safety department should be suspended.”

McDavid didn’t propose any specific changes to how the NHL’s discipline process could be improved.

However, when it was pointed out to him that team owners aren’t incentivized to see their players sit out lengthy suspensions, he left no doubt about where he stands.

“I can’t speak to that,” said McDavid, who was suspended three games last season for cross-checking Vancouver’s Conor Garland. “I’m not an owner, I’m not a GM. I’m a player, and I can say that from the player perspective, I think every time there is a suspension — most times there’s a suspension — there is a lot of frustration from the player side.

“So why don’t we take a look at the process and figure out a way that works for everybody?”