Caps' Orpik gets 3-game ban for hit on Maatta
Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik has been suspended three games for what the NHL is calling an “excessively late” hit on Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta, the league announced Sunday night.
The incident happened early in the first period of the Penguins’ Game 2 win Saturday and knocked Maatta out of the game. He is unlikely to play in Monday’s Game 3. Orpik only received a two-minute minor penalty for interference on the hit, which was not only late but also involved significant head contact.
This is the third time Orpik has been suspended in his career.
Here is the NHL’s explanation of the play and the suspension.
The league notes that the hit happened a full second after Maatta shot the puck, and that not only should no player should reasonably expect to be hit at that point, but that this is also not an example of a player “finishing a check.”
The league typically views anything more than 0.6 seconds to be a late hit. This one, again, was a full second late.
The NHL’s department of player safety has been underwhelming this postseason when it comes to handing out supplemental discipline, and based on the precedent that has been set in recent postseasons this one seems to be pretty significant and more than what was originally expected.
The number of lengthy suspensions handed out by player safety has decreased significantly over the past few years (at least compared to the first year it was in place in 2011-12) and that is especially true in the playoffs where the league seems to reduce suspensions from what they would normally be during the regular season.
This is only the ninth postseason suspension the department has handed out since the start of the 2014 playoffs. Orpik’s is only the third out of that sampling to be longer than two games. Keep in mind that in the 2012 playoffs alone, Brendan Shanahan’s first year in charge of the department when suspensions were more common and more severe, there were 13 suspensions handed out with four of them going beyond two games.
The only way players are going to get the message that hits like this are not acceptable is they are forced to sit for an extended period of time when they deliver them. Does three games for Orpik satisify that on this play? Probably not (this was a reckless, bad play). But it is at least better than what we have seen at other times this postseason.
Washington Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik has been suspended for three games. (NHL)
