Arizona Coyotes forward Liam O’Brien has been fined $2,018.23 for roughing Vancouver Canucks forward Sam Lafferty.
The two players came together near the Canucks’ bench during the first period of Thursday’s game in Vancouver. O’Brien came off the bench on a line change and skated over to Lafferty, issuing a series of shoves and gloved punches before dropping his gloves, grabbing Lafferty, and punching him multiple times.
Referees Trevor Hanson and Justin Kea gave O’Brien a minor penalty for roughing.
For comparison, here’s the roughing rule (51):
Roughing is a punching or slamming motion with or without the glove on the hand, normally directed at the head or face of an opponent.
Here’s an excerpt from fighting, which, obviously, is at the referee’s discretion:
A fight shall be deemed to have occurred when at least one player punches or attempts to punch an opponent repeatedly … The aggressor in an altercation shall be the player who continues to throw punches in an attempt to inflict punishment on his opponent who is in a defenseless position or who is an unwilling combatant.
Sure, five minutes – or more – seems severe for this play, but why wouldn’t the league want to punish this behavior more severely? What’s the benefit of allowing it with just a slap on the wrist… and an equally light slap to the wallet.
Nice to see Player Safety hand out a fine. Perhaps this doesn’t rise to the level of a suspension, but it deserved more than a minor and a few bucks. This was a one-sided, non-hockey play away from the puck. If you want to get this garbage out of the game, suspending players for this sort of nonsense is the way to go.
O’Brien’s fine is the maximum permitted under the CBA without a formal hearing.
