March 13, 2026<\/a><\/p>\nSherwood was animated after morning skate at Bell Centre, both when talking about the \u201cbullshit\u201d hit and how his San Jose Sharks teammates stood up for him.<\/p>\n
He also hopes that NHL can do a better job of addressing head shots.<\/p>\n
Kiefer Sherwood, on how the San Jose Sharks jumped to his defense after the McAvoy hit:<\/p>\n
Yeah, that\u2019s a huge sign. Obviously, the hit was dirty and unnecessary and just stupid on his part, but it was cool to see everyone stand up for each other. That\u2019s something that we\u2019re growing here as a family and as a team.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s going to be important to have that brotherhood for the playoffs here and our push here. We have to stick together through the ups and downs, and we\u2019re only going to continue to build on that.<\/p>\n
Sherwood, on the hit:<\/p>\n
The game\u2019s 4-2, 10 seconds left, he knows where he\u2019s heading. He didn\u2019t stick out his arm, but he still made contact straight to my head, which is bullshit.<\/p>\n
If anyone can attest to being physical \u2014 humbly \u2014 I know, obviously, you know where you\u2019re aiming for. There\u2019s a difference between hitting to be physical and hitting to hurt, and I don\u2019t think any of my hits last year were ever to the head. There\u2019s a difference when, like I said, you hit to be physical and to be hard against, it\u2019s a whole other situation when you hit to the head, and that\u2019s the problem I have with it, because now you\u2019re talking about hitting to injure and hitting for potential stuff down the road.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s something that the game needs to address, because for the players\u2019 sake, our well-being and our health and safety is more important than a power play or one-time thing in that game. That\u2019s the only issue I have with it, is the contact to the head.<\/p>\n
Obviously, the game is out of hand, he doesn\u2019t need to step up. Whatever, I get it, you play to the whistle. I don\u2019t blame him for playing hard until the whistle, but I do have an issue that the impact was straight to my head.<\/p>\n
Our team responded and stuck together, and like I said, we\u2019ll continue to stick together through the second half here in [our playoff] push.<\/p>\n
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