The entire city of Edmonton is evidently in an uproar.
On Monday, Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid was suspended three games for crosschecking Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland in the head. It seemed like a fair punishment from the NHL's Department of Player Safety, with Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers receiving the same punishment for what was essentially the same transgression.
According to essentially everyone out of Edmonton, however, it was a miscarriage of justice, the likes of which the NHL has never seen before.
Sportsnet's Marc Spector wrote an article defending McDavid "taking justice into his own hands" wherein he interviewed paragon of virtue Corey Perry.
Oilers colour commentator Bob Stauffer railed against the NHL for not protecting its stars (from being held by 5'7" Conor Garland?) and attacked the Canucks for having no Stanley Cups and two riots. It should be noted, the Canucks were not responsible for suspending McDavid.
Stauffer also suggested that McDavid pull back from promoting the league and he wasn't alone. So many Oilers fans called for McDavid to sit out the Four Nations tournament to protest the suspension that TSN's Ryan Rishaug felt the need to respond and say that no, McDavid wasn't going to do that.
On top of responses from Edmonton media members — and there were more than just these few — there were numerous other social media posts from Oilers fans overreacting to the incident.
This is just scratching the surface and barely touches on Oilers fans calling for violent retribution against Garland. Let's remind everyone, Garland didn't crosscheck anyone in the face. He held and interfered with McDavid, absolutely, and should have received a penalty for doing so. But McDavid's response, and the response of so many Oilers fans and media members, was and is over the top.
But the most embarrassing response from Edmonton came in the form of an official statement from the Oilers.
"The Oilers organization is disappointed and we share in our fans' frustration over the three-game suspension of our captain Connor McDavid. We support him through this process and the organization and our fans look forward to having him back in the lineup vs. Seattle next week."
That the Oilers felt the need to make an official statement at all is embarrassing enough. An official statement in response to a three-game suspension? What are we doing here? The Canucks didn't release a similar statement for Myers but simply took the punishment handed down by the league and moved on.
What stands out the most in the statement, however, is the phrase, "We support him through this process."
What process? The process of him being suspended is over. How much support does he need while he sits out three games?
The phrase, "We support him through this process" is the type of thing a team might say about a player taking a leave of absence for a serious personal matter, not someone who has been suspended — justifiably suspended, at that — for a grand total of three games.
It's a completely tone-deaf and embarrassing statement that might play well to their fans, who will now feel justified in their absurd overreaction to this incident, but might not play so well with the league itself. An official statement saying the Oilers are "disappointed" and frustrated by a decision from the NHL's Department of Player Safety is certainly toeing the line.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, for his part, feels that the entire situation has become completely overblown.
"It's a tough job for the referees, it's a tough job for George Parros — all of it's tough," said Tocchet. "I just don't like the grandstanding. Like, protect this? It is what it is. I don't want Connor McDavid to get suspended and we're playing him. I'm being honest, you always want to play the best. He's terrific for our league, an unbelievable kid from what I've been told, the way he works at his game. Unreal for the game.
"But it happened. So you deal with it. It's the same thing with Mysie."
Tocchet again said he didn't like the grandstanding out of Edmonton, with people criticizing the referees and making the entire situation out to be more than it was.
"Okay, there's a hold — a couple holds — yeah, okay," said Tocchet. "It didn't get called for whatever reason when there was, like, ten seconds left. There's a missed high stick. We could go back and forth. It's a three-game suspension — it is what it is. We've got to move on from this, that's what I think."
When I asked, perhaps with my tongue slightly in my cheek, whether he thought McDavid needed to be protected from Garland, he just laughed and said, "It was a hold."
Perhaps the Canucks should have released their own statement:
The Canucks organization is disappointed and we share in our fans' frustration over the crosscheck to the face of Conor Garland. We support him through this process and the organization and our fans look forward to having him back in the lineup vs. Buffalo tonight.
