Nick Piccone
Radko Gudas absolutely annihilated Sabres rookie Dan Catenacci last night. I speculated he’d receive a suspension based on his reputation, as did almost every other HOCKEY EXPERT around. But it turns out that Gudas isn’t just escaping punishment for his hit, but he’s not even having a hearing for it.
Here’s likely why Gudas isn’t receiving any discipline for his hit:
- The initial contact was to the shoulder, despite Catenacci’s position as being low. What easily could have been a head hit was avoided by Gudas. Catenacci’s head hit the ice because of the brunt of the hit, but there was no head contact from Gudas.
- Catenacci was tied up with another player, but that doesn’t mean he cannot be pushed or shoved or checked by another player.
- Gudas could have been going after the puck, but Catenacci tipped it away, whether intentional or not. Gudas’ attention was also on the pick right after the hit.
- Gudas didn’t leave his feet.
- Nobody is surprised by this hit. That’s not why he isn’t receiving discipline. I just wanted to include this in a bullet point. Just because.
If it was up to Marcus Foligno, Gudas would’ve been kicked out of the league:
I don’t want to talk about that guy. That guy’s an idiot and stupid,” Foligno said. “He gets his hits in, he’s dirty and he’s been known for it. He goes after a rookie who plays in three games and goes right at his head. He’s an idiot, that guy. That’s all I can say. I wish that me and (Nicolas Deslauriers) were out on the ice at that time and we could’ve done a little worse damage to him.”
The NHL clearly didn’t think the hit was dirty or illegal. Gudas hasn’t been suspended for the last two big hits he’s dished out, and Wayne Simmonds wasn’t suspended for punching Glass Ryan McDonagh.
CSN’s Tim Panaccio es no contento.
For the second time this month, Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas has escaped the slippery hand of the law — that is, the NHL’s department of player safety.
According to sources, the NHL did not have a hearing for Gudas’ poor hit on Buffalo rookie Daniel Catenacci late in Thursday’s 5-1 blowout win over the Sabres. No hearing, no supplemental discipline even though it was a totally unnecessary hit in which Gudas took advantage of a player already engaged by a Flyer (Chris VandeVelde).
Catenacci had his head down in neutral ice when Gudas popped him, with a melee coming out of it, starting with Jake McCabe.
Gudas was warned by the league but not punished after his clipping major and game misconduct against Montreal on Feb. 2. Lucas Lessio was the player injured during that play.
Somehow, Gudas escaped punishment here, despite protests from the Sabres, particularly, Marcus Foligno, who called him “an idiot.”
The Flyers were comfortably ahead 5-1 with 3:33 left when Gudas targeted Catenacci and earned a five-minute major for charging. The result of the play was Gudas’ second fight of the night, this one with McCabe. He had previously fought Foligno.
Tim’s gonna have a bad weekend, isn’t he?