Radko Gudas won’t be suspended for his Monday night hit on New York Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey.
The Flyers defenseman was given a minor for roughing and a game misconduct on the play, but multiple reporters are saying this morning that according to league sources, Gudas won’t see extra discipline.
Here’s the video of the hit again:
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Radko Gudas hit on Jimmy Vesey | Flyers vs. Rangers, 10/3/2016
Radko Gudas delivered a dangerous hit from behind against Jimmy Vesey, and the Philadelphia Flyers defenseman might be getting a call from the NHL on this one. He already has a game misconduct.
Posted by Broad Street Hockey: For Philadelphia Flyers Fans on Monday, October 3, 2016
The message from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, whether you agree with it or not, is that a player can’t turn into the boards like this before a hit. Vesey said after the game that he didn’t expect to be hit that hard — a lesson probably learned the hard way for the first year pro.
“I didn’t expect that big of a hit,” Vesey said. “The next thing I knew I was face first into the glass. I wasn’t expecting it, and got caught off guard a little bit.”
I’m a little surprised that Gudas, given his long history of walking the line on these hits, didn’t get a call from the league at the very least. Then again, given the fact that Vesey turned and that he came back for the second period of play, we probably shouldn’t be that surprised.
Gudas has gotten pretty good at becoming the guy who gets away with these hits, if that can be considered a skill. That said, even if he’s not getting a suspension, it’s still not good to get kicked out of a game with 40 minutes, 21 seconds of hockey left. That’s particularly true for a defenseman like Gudas. We’re still hoping he cleans up this side of his game a bit, because it does always have the opportunity to hurt the team.
