How long should Edmonton Oilers expect McDavid to be suspended?
It’s looking more and more likely that the Edmonton Oilers will be without captain Connor McDavid for at least the next game.
McDavid will be having a hearing with the Department of Player Safety over a vicious cross-check that he delivered to the head of Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland in the dying seconds of a 3-2 loss.
A date and time for the hearing has yet to be decided.
Edmonton’s Connor McDavid will have a hearing for cross-checking Vancouver’s Conor Garland. Date and time TBD.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) January 19, 2025
The cross-check was borne out of frustration for McDavid as Garland had been holding him on the ice for about 15 seconds prior without a penalty being called. Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch defended McDavid’s right to be frustrated on the play, but it seems unlikely the league will see it the same way.
So, how long should the Oilers expect McDavid to be suspended?
Connor McDavid was issued a match penalty on this play for cross-checking Conor Garland. pic.twitter.com/sB2Gpb3xAA
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 19, 2025
A few things should be taken into account when McDavid has his hearing. The first should be that this is very out of character for the Oilers captain. He has not had many run-ins with the DoPS in his career, having just one suspension from 2019 and a single fine from 2021 under his belt. He is by no means a repeat offender in the eyes of the NHL, which should help keep any potential suspension brief.
However, despite that, this was pretty clearly a play in which McDavid was not playing for the puck and made direct head contact with Garland on a cross-check. The reigning Conn Smythe winner can argue that he didn’t intend to make head contact on the play, but it will be pretty difficult to defend his actions, even if he was frustrated with the holding before the play.
The puck was nowhere near Garland at the time and the refs must have thought there was at least some intent to injure on the play by assessing McDavid a match penalty.
There is also the schedule to take into consideration here as well. While that may not play a factor all the time, the Oilers are scheduled to have a rematch with the Canucks on Thursday night. It’s a game that is expected to be super-charged with emotion and bound to be a physical one. Does the NHL want McDavid to play in that game after all the extra-curriculars that happened on Saturday night? Unlikely.
With all that in mind, it’s probably fair to say that a suspension is on the way for McDavid. The hearing will be over the phone which means the league can only suspend him for a maximum of five games, though that seems unlikely. It’s more plausible that a two to three-game suspension will be the final verdict when all is said and done.
Considering McDavid’s lack of a history doing this sort of thing, it’s probably wise to think it’ll be closer to the two-game mark rather than three.
This would force him to miss Tuesday night’s game against the Washington Capitals and the Thursday rematch with the Canucks. He would return in time to play Saturday night vs. the Buffalo Sabres.
We’ll see what the NHL decides to do with McDavid over the next day or so.