Former NHL referee Dave Jackson breaks down Charlie McAvoy hit on Oliver Ekman-Larsson
On Tuesday morning the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Boston Bruins’ defenseman Charlie McAvoy will have a hearing for an illegal check to the head and interference on Florida Panthers’ defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
The incident happened halfway through the third period of Boston’s 3-2 overtime win Monday night. McAvoy ventured deep into Florida’s zone and, after Ekman-Larsson attempted to play a bouncing puck, McAvoy hammered him with a blindside hit. The play earned McAvoy a five-minute match penalty.
McAvoy ejected from the game for this hit pic.twitter.com/JejjeSHJCh
— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) October 31, 2023
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk were joined by former NHL referee and current ESPN rules analyst Dave Jackson to discuss McAvoy’s hit and what the end result might be.
Tyler Yaremchuk: There was a lot going on last night from an officiating and player safety perspective, so we appreciate you hopping on to break it down. Let’s fire up the film and start with Charlie McAvoy. We know he’s getting a hearing at this point. When you break down this hit last night, what makes it a major and what kind of suspension do you think we’re looking at?
Dave Jackson: Well suspensions are above my pay grade, and I don’t want to second guess George Parros (head of NHL Department of Player Safety), he’s bigger and tougher than me. McAvoy made it easy on the referees last night, I don’t think it was malicious, I think it was more reckless and bad timing, but clearly the puck is gone so it’s semi-late. He also makes zero attempt to hit through the core (the front, chest area). We see a lot of hits where the head is contacted but it’s a hit directly through the core, and sometimes that happens.
But the attempt and the effort has to be made to make a full-core body check, and in this case, all he did was hit the head. Puck was gone, shoulder-to-chin, that’s a penalty all day long. The only options the referee has is a two-minute minor or a match penalty, and that definitely rose above a two-minute penalty.
Click here to watch the full segment…