Tkachuk fined, Carlson racking up points, and more!
Time for Monday’s edition of Links, News, and Notes
After an exciting, and chippy, game Saturday against the Flyers, the league has levied some punishment against Brady Tkachuk. We talk about that and wrap up some other news and notes from around the league:
- Brady Tkachuk was fined $2,486 by the league for his cross-check on Scott Laughton at the end of Saturday’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Reactions to Tkachuk’s outburst were mixed, but DJ Smith didn’t seem too concerned after the game:/
“For a 20-year-old kid to play with that kind of jam … and on this trip, I think he really started to take on a leadership role in that department,” he said. “Regardless of the night, he plays hard, and I thought he dragged us into the battle when some guys were a little flat. I thought he was great.”
- Jon Carlson is racking up points at a ridiculous rate for the Washington Capitals. Carlson’s always been offensively talented, but his 114 point pace would make him the first defenseman to break the century mark since Brian Leetch in 1991-92. Tom Gulitti had a piece over at NHL.com putting Carlson’s incredible season into historical context.
- Greg Wyshynski had a lengthy piece at ESPN.com on Friday where he dug into the on-going controversy of coaches physically abusing their players. Wyshynski focuses this time on Peter Laviolette, who seemingly struck Ville Leino on the helmet on the bench while the two were members of the Philadelphia Flyers. Leino had this to say about it:/
“There are lot of emotions in the game. Coaches get fired up and things happen,” Leino told ESPN via email. “I don’t think Peter tried to hit me, and it looks worse in the video than it was.”
Leino hadn’t thought about this incident in quite a while, until a friend showed him the video the other day. He recalls Laviolette apologizing for the punch at the time. “Peter was a very passionate and emotional coach. That made him good, but sometimes stuff like this happened,” he said. “Nevertheless, it shouldn’t happen.”
- And lastly, in some good news Laila Anderson attended the St. Louis Blues game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night with her bone marrow donor. Kenton Felmlee and Laila first met on Thursday night at a Be the Match event./
