Myers fined $5K for cross-checking Wingels, fairness police outraged

Tyler Myers of the Winnipeg Jets is listed at 6-foot-8. San Jose’s Tommy Wingels is an even 6-feet-tall. When Wingels finished his check in the corner boards on Myers, the smaller forward bounced off the giant defenseman. 

It looked like just another hit but it apparently flipped Myers’s Hulk-switch. The Jet turned around to cross-check Wingels in the head/neck/ear area. 

As is if he was daring the Department of Player Safety during the post game, Myers called a potential suspension for the cross-check “a joke.”

DoPS found it only somewhat funny and dinged Myers for $5,000. Unfortunately for Myers, the fine is in US dollars, not the weaker Canadian dollar.

Do you hear that?

It’s the faint whine of people comparing the Myers-Wingels incident to that of Sidney Crosby and Brandon Dubinsky back in November. Dubinsky was suspended one game for cracking Crosby in the back of the neck. The fairness police will attempt to use the lack of suspension to Myers as an example of the NHL disciplining players who do harm to stars. Yet, it’s comparing apples and oranges because of the severity of the action by the offending player.

Frankly, it’s somewhat surprising the NHL took any action on the cross-check, regardless of who was involved. Just shy of a month after the Dubinsky cross-check, Dalton Prout wailed on Sergei Plotnikov’s mellon and Prout was not subject to supplemental discipline.

Consistency is all the people ask for. If the league doesn’t want to suspend, fines are a step in the right direction.

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Jen Neale is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter! Follow @MsJenNeale_PD.

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