Is A Two Game Suspension Enough For Mike Matheson’s Hit On Elias Pettersson?| Tim and Sid 

If this happened to Mitch Marner the Toronto media would be calling for a ten game suspension at the very least.

Physicality does not mean slamming your opponent into the ice.

Slammed his head into the ice. I am trying to not be a Canuck fan and just look at it with unbias eyes. But damn does that look really ugly. Doesn't matter how tough you are or how much you weigh, if a dude slams your head into the ice you are getting injured.

Wow, I can't believe people are defending Matheson. He should've got 4-5, clear intent to injure!

It doesn’t matter if it was clean or not. He picked him up and threw him down on the ice. Absolute rubbish. It should be much longer.

I'm honestly shocked about this discussion. Talking about the kid's frame? Have they even seen the video? This is not MMA, this is hockey. We all want to see a physical game and fair hits. But picking someone up and slamming his head on the ice is fine? This has nothing to do with "physical play". This goof should have gotten 5 or 7 games minimum.

You could maybe argue that the hit into the boards was maybe clean, but the slam/throw down to the ice was definitely crossing the line. I would have given Matheson 4 games. This is not a hockey play (and I'm NOT trying to take hitting out of the game) and these kinds of things that can concuss players and shorten careers. Physicality is one of the reasons I love hockey, but I don't appreciate this kind of stuff.

So Kypreos is just ignoring that this isn't a hockey play? This injury has nothing to do with playing tough. I'm all for playing hard and clean, but this action is just dirty and doesn't belong in the game. I guess sucker-punching without the glove should be allowed as well because hockey is a tough game right?

No it’s not enough it should be like 5 or 6 games because it was intention to injure.

Kipper is proof of what rough hockey results in. Too many blows to the head make your noodle go soft! Now he's saying parents with kids who are smaller should think twice about putting their kids in to hockey? What a f*cking tool. There was nothing wrong with the hit. The issue, I believe, is the action after the hit. Which is/was unsportsmanlike. The league seems to agree. Thankfully.

intent to injure...2 games, what the hell. Erik Gudbranson has him (Matheson) in his crosshairs

Kyp is an absolute joke.

Look at his stick. He sticks it between his legs. Then look at his follow through with his left hand. He knocks him off balance and slams him. Its not different than using a can opener to take a player off balance and then throwing them in to the end boards. The league got this right. The need to set the tone and cut out non hockey plays that hurt players in a vulnerable position. You can't hit players from behind either. You can't slew foot. The body check was no problem Kyper is a bit of a meathead

These guys are ridiculous. If you are a smaller guy, you find ways to become useful. Look at Tyler Johnson or Kailer Yamamoto. It''s not about size, it isn't about overt physicality. This suspension is about the extra shot that gets a player hurt. Did Manning get a suspension on McDavid when his collarbone got broken? No. Because it was a hit that just went badly. Matheson threw Pettersson to the ground, illegal. AFTER, a hard physical play that would have left Pettersson sore, but able to play the rest of the game.

Lmao Matheson was choked because pettersson spun him out

5 games and 100K fine. He's making 4.8 million a year.

Should have been a minimum 5 game suspension and a $50,000 fine.

should be more than 2 games. He literally pick up and threw him on the ice!

Petterson had Matheson in his hip pocket all night including when he scored his PP goal. Matheson had to have been embarrassed in front of his home fans being made look like a fool with concrete skates, until he finally lost it. He stalked the kid before giving him a can opener between the legs and pinning him to the boards, which isn't the problem, it's a hockey play. It's the WWE "undertaker's choke slam" that doesn't belong in the game of hockey.

Matheson got schooled by the kid and got pissed off. 2 games is a joke. Clear intent to injure. However in the 70's we wouldn't even question it. Give the kid some smelling salts and send him back out there. Kypreos is a dinosaur.

Really sick and tired of these old heads acting like it's cool to be a goon sport. This isnt a tough hockey play this is a top 6 dmn getting embarrassed

Things like this is why fighting is important in hockey....Somebody should have dealt with it when it happened.

Would like to see suspensions last as long as the injured player is unable to return.

Look at Kypreos stats before you take anything he has to say with a grain of salt. The guy was a bum lol. If hockey was only about skill he would never have played a game in the NHL. Of course he doesn’t want to see it change lol

If this would happened to Crosby or McDavid (or basically to any hockey star from Canada), Sportsnet would be talking about how 2 games is laughably low punishment. But U know, Pettersson is "only" from Europe, so this doesn't count. We all want physicality and clean hits, but what happened after bodycheck was dirty playing from Matheson and absolutely unnecessery. I personaly do not think, that he wanted to injure him. But it was dirty, it was against the rules and even worse, Pettersson got injured to his head. Understand? Head! As an NHL player, you are playing on the highest level as possible in this sport, so your knowledge about rules must be good enough if you want to do this job. Good? I mean great! And this comes with full responsibility for your actions. I don't want to see the next "hits" from players like Stevens have done in the past to Kariya, Hatcher to Sýkora and to other fantastic hockey players.

I love hitting and besides the stick between the legs the hit is all good, it's the slamming a fellow Nhlers head to the ice I got a problem with. Doesn't matter who it is, a head being directly forced down to the ice while in a vulnerable position is going to have possibilities of concussion symptoms. It's nothing like being slammed into the boards. Who ever is into seeing kids getting concussions have some serious issues.

Yes, two games is enough. IF you want to send the message that you're okay with players getting "Rock Bottom'd" What kind of joke suspension is that?

Wow Kipper sounds like a raving lunatic here, like in a bad way

This never would have happened with a guy like Gino Odjick sitting at the end of the bench.

"Looked like anything else we've seen from time to time...over the history of the game." That kind of "logic" would also excuse hits like Bertuzzi on Moore, Hunter on Turgeon, an entire line from the Bruins climbing into the stands to attack fans, and several players punching officials in the face. Sorry, Nick, but that's a really weak argument. Two games was a bit light considering the intent to injure was obviously there.

That’s why the enforcer role is important when you have a young star on your team

So.... what video did Kypreos watch? Because what he's saying isn't matching what happened. Where the league is going: Who do fans get excited to see, who puts more assess in the seats, the Mathesons or Pettersons? That's where the league is going.

The Canucks organization should be fined for gutlessness for doing nothing in the press, on the ice and in the locker room.

Kipper isn't coming off well with this one.

Should of been more games

2 games is crap

Wasn't Gretzky 150lbs his first year in the NHL...in a tougher more brutal NHL? It's getting rid of the enforcer roll is what's dangerous.

more games, 5 to 7 seems about right.

Imo 3 would have been fair, but 2 is better than none. That ref better be suspended though.

I have no problem with the hit. It's what happened after thats the problem. He body slammed him to the ice and was lucky this didn't result in a cervical spinal injury to Pettersson. Should have got 5 games minimum and a major fine. There's no place in the game for this crap and the NHL should be ashamed to be condoning this (2 games and no added fine is nothing). No NHL player wants the word concussion anywhere in their file especially this early in their career.

Minimum five games. Hit from behind and threw him down.

Kyper is wrong here. All these old guys claiming we had hard hitting in my time. Ya and guys were destroyed by th3 time they were 35 and the league dumped them. I had no issue with the hit, when the loser through him to the ice that's too much. 5 games at least. I'm a leafs fan by the way.

We just need to get enforcer player’s back to this sport. This would not happen anymore when you know that somebody like Bob Probert comes after you and will beat you so badly you will not see for few days. That is the REASON why skill players were left alone before.

Can the NHL suspend the player for as long as the other player is out? Especially in a case where it is a result of intentional aggravation towards a player

the guy in the middle is a clown, "it was a dirty finish, whatever"

The NHL has set a standard now.. Play away from the puck resulting in injuries to stars is two game suspension.. Sweet now that's sorted who is gonna pay Lucic to take out Matthew's, kills the leafs momentum and take a two day vacation? Reaves can take out McDavid for us.. Let's just get rid of all the stars to concussion haha

2 games ? He literally gave him the rock bottom, I was waiting to see if he gave him the people’s elbow too 😂

Heck no that's not enough, I don't even think a 10 game suspension would be enough.

So its still a faul play the RULEBOOK says its a dirty play and they STILL think its because he is small..not because it was a cheapshot. If it was ONLY the tackle in to the boards Petterson would play next game. And thats what we talk about...not if he is small or not. It would end in the same way if this was Marners head bouncing in the Ice. I dont get it. Drop the attitude about smaller player...

Kipper would think differently if Big John Scott picked him up and tossed him to the ice!

Man that's hard to watch. I hate to see players get hurt like that but especially when it's a young kid. I hope it doesn't affect him negatively or anything. The kid shows a lot of potential and I'm excited to see how good he gets

Funny how they bring up the Bruins who get perpetual passes unless they go triple overboard which is tough to hide even for the NHL.

People seem to forget that the Bertuzzi/Moore incident happened because the league did nothing about the Moore/Naslund incident.At least they did something this time...I only hope it turns out to be enough,when added to the inevitable on-ice score-evening,to defuse this ticking time-bomb without further injury.

Fair suspension, not a repeat offender, sets an example for players. Plus, Roussel or Gudbranson are probably already going to try and fight Matheson. IMO

Brad Marchand should get 20games for this! On a serious note I thought the WWE slam was more dumb than Tom Wilson hit but because no repeat offender he only gets 2? Should have been between 5-10 games. Would be kinda of funny if he gets thrown down like that by Byfuglien or something when he comes back from suspension

The decision on what length of suspension to hand down determined how the slower bigger players will handle these young skilled players, the league is evolving, but I can only see more young lighter players getting similar injuries throughout the season with only the risk of two games being handed out early on, as opposed to being benched or dropped for not keeping a mark covered.

why do i have a feeling ther's a higher chance a player from another team is more likely to stand hup for pettersson.

1:15 is not legal, I don’t know which NHL replay they reviewed and say it’s Elias fault that he’s injured. If only Matheson would’ve just skated away after the pin then no problem, but did he really have to do that?

It's pretty simple, you make the offender responsible for his actions, if he injured someone he should be out the length of the injury. You can hurt a player for months right now and only get punished a couple weeks

Is anyone going to talk anout the elbow to the back of the head from McNabb on Oskar Lindblom?

don't think 2 games is enough -- it has shades of Bertuzzi if you disagree. go watch the Bertuzzi hit again and then this one. the way the both hunt down their target and then use their hands to slam down the guy's neck region (following through at least past their own chest and their target's center of gravity), they're actually kinda alike. the hit was fun. even shoving a player is okay, it's just roughing. shoving or kinda pushing (e.g. when you don't follow through) is fine, it's roughing. but when you follow through past that center of gravity and it becomes a slam + the retribution or premeditated aspect to it, dunno how anyone could say it's not at least a suspension -- let alone more than two.

The suspension should be as long as it takes for the injured player to come back. Two games for that is as awful as the event was.

Last time I checked power slamming someone was not allowed in the nhl. And to call that hit old school is a joke. I dont remember ever seeing any of the big hitters ever do this over the almost 40 years of watching and playing the game.

The thing is that he took the hit no problem. So size shouldn't be the issue on the play. The problem is that Matheson could pick him up even tough he shouldn't. I guess Chara can pick up guys in Mathesons size and throw them into the ice as well. That would probably also render a suspension.

20 games for a slam to the ice, that could havr hurt him way more than it did.

As far as I'm concerned, throwing a guy to the ice like that is borderline assault.

The hit was fine, the throw after was not. Good small suspension I think

What makes this a bad hit instead of a good one is the stick between the legs. Thats what you call a "can opener", he used his stick to purposely up-end his opponent. Had he just done this with 1 arm alone, no suspension, no talk at all, just a big hit. Its the can opener thats the problem. That said, Petterson's gotta learn fast how to avoid these kinda hits. Patrick Kane has never taken a major injury and he was also considered too small when he started. but Kane knows how to dodge your check and avoid you along the boards, thats a skill most smaller players need to develop quickly, how to avoid these hits in the first place.

Is anyone shocked that a plug like Kypreos has a problem with this suspension?

Can you guys interview Mathews and Marner and get their take on the suspension?

Hit on the board is fine but the chokeslam? Weeeeell...

The one question I have about all this might be answered elsewhere, and that was whether Matheson is a repeat offender or not. From what I gather, this is his first suspension. Had this been more along the lines of, say, Tom Wilson or Brad Marchand, then they would have considered a longer term.

We can always keep physicality but that doesn't mean we need to end careers over it before they start.

So let's make it a rule - no players in the NHL unless they weight 200 lbs or more? Kypreos is concussed.

I literally feel like i find $50 on the ground when i watch this hit. I love it and wish he did it harder

Man, lots of people in these comment sections don't remember a lot of rough plays on the wall. If you're going to give a 2 game suspension for pinning a guy to the boards and then one-hand shoving them to the ice, they are going to have to hand out a LOT of suspensions for equally or more dangerous plays that happen all the friggin time. Everyone in the comments is saying that Matheson "picked him up and slammed him down".... He didn't. He pinned him against the wall, and when Petterson lost his balance, Matheson gave him an extra shove towards the ice. The melodramatic commenters are making it sound like he gave him a full-blown suplex or something. How many times do you see players getting cross-checked into the boards or shoved to the ice in the corners? ALL THE TIME. Often they're even cross-checked head first into the wall, and unless it is at high speeds, the most they get is a 2 min minor for cross-checking, and often the play isn't penalized at all. I don't agree with Kypreos often, but he's 100% correct on this one. If Petterson had strong enough neck muscles to keep his head from skipping off the ice when he was shoved down, nobody would be talking badly about the play. Instead, the kid gets concussed, so now the result of the play dictates the punishment, even though the play was tame.

Kypreos: "The fact is, you're gonna have to make some tough choices" Tim: "So, what would you choose?" Kypreos: "WHY DO I HAVE TO ANSWER ONE OR THE OTHER, WHY CAN'T I HAVE BOTH?!?!?"

I'm actually disgusted by this discussion. They're making it look like the hit was a good thing and "the tough luck kid" is not a big veteran who just brush this kind of a slam off. A good clean hit can be a pleasure to watch and really raise the intensity of a game, but a dirty play, finishing with a slam on the ice... wow... it's just horrific to hear them defend it.

I miss the good old tough hockey

Good power check. Absolutely unacceptable throw down after the hit. The hit was absolutely fine. No issue with that. It is the follow through after the hit. Just look at Matheson's arm once the Leafs player gets airborne on the boards. Absolutely a 5, 6, or even 10 game suspension.

Guys chill, Kypreos was actually just saying his opinion. If you watch the three TSN guys who reported on this, they were absolutely ignorant and disrespectful to anyone who disagreed with them and to Pettersson, and i agree with every comment that called them idiots. Kypreos is much more respectful about it. I still disagree with him, but at least he didn’t try to act like a smart ass giving a physics lesson like TSN guys did. And he acknowledged that Matheson did actually thrust Pettersson’s head toward the ice (i think the TSN guys forgot to watch the play), and he even agreed with the suspension.

To me that deserves more like 10 games, possibly more, maybe it could’ve been 2 if Pettersson had been fine and gotten right back up

kipper is right this kid needs to gain some weight if he wants to go in the corners like that. I don't think the hit or the "throw" was that bad. This has only become an issue because the player got hurt

Tough break. As a nucks fan I obviousy hate to see it, but if the shoe was on the other foot, I'd be happy with the play.

The Barrington Levy Sound Byte Was Epic!

If these kind of hits are fine. Then we need to accept that player like Petterson can use stick as bat and hit next time without warning just for fun straight head shot like marty mcsorley once did.

Awesome hit i loved seeing the guy not able to stand up and move around the ground in pain

With that mindset why do we call high sticking or any other penalty? This was akin to a slewfoot!

Fishes 😂 I feel bad for that kid. Kipper likes the hard hitting hockey, but cmon.. that hit on the way down was totally uncalled for. The hit was fine, but the vicious hit going down should not be tolerated. 2 games not enough in my opinion.

How tf can someone see this as hard playstyle, the dude smashed Petterson head first to the ice WAY AFTER the hit... COME ON

Disgusting thing to do from Matheson. There is no respect towards other player or the game. Just disgusting. Love to Pettersson from Finland. Great player with amazing skills.

I don’t know about more then 2 games, what I have a problem with is TSN and Sportsnet freaking out over Matheson being suspended. That is disgraceful and disgusting. Had it happened to them or a teammate maybe they would think differently instead of hating on the Canucks 24/7. That’s my 2 cents, pull your head out of your ass TSN

How is a suspension for Matheson going to work against the loss of the Canucks? It’s not going to do them any good, and Matheson is probably not going to think much of this. Still an injured Canuck, loss of a brilliant centre man could jeopardize further games.

Are teams not allowed to have designated goons anymore? It would have been nice to see some big/tough guy dummy on mattheson after he threw down Petterson.

2 is ok. I still think the guy at fault should be out the extent of the victims time out.

. Has anyone here ever watched hockey before the year 1995 or 2000. Thrown down on his head? Wtf are you guys talking about. He went down on his shoulder. This is hockey, not ballet. Man most of the comments on here sound like a bunch of soy boys. If guys watched hockey in the 70's you would turn the TV off because you would be to scared and then have nightmares for months. The reason for the enforcers was to protect these young future stars. Hockey used to be so good in the 70-90's and at least the playoffs were still good from 2000-2015, up until 2 or 3 years ago. Unreal what's happened. R.I.P. NHL.

that basically a chokeslam. the follow through definitely isnt allowed, you could argue that the hit was fine or at best okay.

I disagree that the league should have to punish it, that's what the players are for. This is a point in the corner for old school enforcers who protected equally small guys like Gretzky.

TSN was talking about how even a fine would’ve been too much lol.

It’s a fine line. I see both sides of the argument but 2 games is fair for now. Petterson has the skill to play in the NHL but not the body yet. If you cater only to skill, hockey is a complete different game that loses its roots.