When the Final Horn Sounds, the NHL Still Can’t Get Discipline Right

Fans of every sport often claim to have the worst officials. A perverse sense of pride exists in your favorite sport having the worst discipline system. Truthfully, all sports do have their flaws, but the fans with the strongest claim may be those fond of professional hockey. A bench-clearing brawl at the end of last Sunday’s Rangers-Red Wings game allowed the NHL another opportunity to put a solid discipline plan in place and curb the incompetency claims; an opportunity that they failed to capitalize on.

Given the events of the game, a fight was inevitable, and a team-wide brawl was likely. The Red Wings dominated the Rangers in every aspect. They outshot their opponents 42-19, scoring on two of those shots, while the Rangers only netted one.[1] The on-ice domination was exacerbated by shoddy officiating.[2] Both sides suffered from questionable penalty calls, causing the fans, players, and announcers to lose their patience.[3]

Red Wing Mason Appleton skated the puck into the offensive zone as time expired, and the final horn sounded. A frustrating night for both sides was supposed to end at that moment, but Appleton extended the night after he broke an unwritten rule of hockey.[4] A second or two following the final horn, Appleton sent the puck into the Rangers’ empty net.[5] His shot led Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick, who was originally aiming for Appleton, to drop his gloves with Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin, with the benches clearing shortly after.[6]

Since the brawl came after the final horn, there could be no on-ice discipline, but the NHL was still able to discipline players via fines or suspensions. The next two days came and went with no word from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, and it became clear that the teams would face no discipline.[7] The lack of discipline isn’t exactly shocking given the league’s checkered past in enacting fair and equitable disciplinary decisions. Prior incidents have made predicting the league’s discipline nearly impossible.

The incident was reminiscent of a similar event last season. Once again, the New York Rangers were involved in a brawl; this time it was only a line brawl with the New Jersey Devils.[8] The brawl appeared to be orchestrated, with the players all simultaneously dropping their gloves only a few seconds after puck drop.[9] Jimmy Vesey and Curtis Lazar were the first to drop their gloves, meaning everyone else on the ice was given a game misconduct for secondary fighting and ejected.[10] Similar to this year’s incident, days passed and no further discipline was enacted by the NHL. In this instance, it makes a bit more sense, seeing as the Devils and the Rangers both lost four players and tallied penalties combining for a whopping 162 penalty minutes.[11]

Last season’s playoffs even saw a brawl of its own, this one being a bit smaller in comparison, but drawing the attention of the Department of Player Safety nonetheless. The Washington Capitals were leading the Montreal Canadiens 2–0 in the series when, in the second period of game three, Washington’s Tom Wilson laid a hard hit into Montreal’s Jake Evans.[12] A scuffle ensued, with Wilson and Montreal’s Arber Xhekaj being separated by officials.[13] Wilson was then stopped by Josh Anderson, where a struggle ensued all the way to the Capitals’ bench.[14] Both Wilson and Anderson were given two-minute roughing minors and ten-minute misconducts.[15] The following day the Department of Player Safety fined both Wilson and Anderson the maximum of $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct.[16]

The glaring question is what causes the Department of Player Safety to decide that a certain incident is worthy of future discipline. A bench-clearing brawl seems like a far more serious matter than a fight between two players amidst the tension of the playoffs; only the latter resulted in monetary discipline. Even between the two brawls, only one resulted in any form of discipline, while the other was forgotten about simply because it occurred after the game. An event occurring after the game would seem to be the perfect time for Player Safety to step in as opposed to a brawl during a game, but still the Department did not issue any discipline. Certainly, each situation is unique, and fines lose their effect if they are given out in excess. With that being said, it would be nice to see some form of consistency. There is a clear hierarchy between these events: a bench-clearing brawl is worse than a line brawl, and a simple fight is the most harmless of the three. The NHL issued–or failed to issue–discipline decisions that reflect the exact opposite, which leads to serious competency concerns. Hopefully, the NHL will soon enact a clear discipline system, but for now we are stuck with unpredictability.

Take a look at last Sunday’s brawl here: https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/benches-clear-as-quick-storms-the-ice-after-appleton-fires-post-buzzer-shot/

[1] https://www.si.com/nhl/red-wings-rangers-get-into-massive-team-wide-brawl-after-final-buzzer

[2] https://www.redwingsinsider.com/nhl-team/detroit-red-wings/nhl-reaches-final-verdict-on-discipline-for-bench-clearing-brawl-between-red-wings-and-rangers-sunday-at-msg

[3] Id.

[4] Supra, note 1

[5] Id.

[6] Supra, note 2

[7] Id.

[8] https://sports.yahoo.com/revisiting-devils-rangers-2023-opening-164029267.html

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nhl-experts-point-capitals-canadiens-104000263.html

[13] Id.

[14] https://sports.yahoo.com/article/nhl-announces-punishments-following-capitals-083413018.html

[15] Id.

[16] Id.