Major: Juraj Slafkovsky breaks the rules and the NHL gets involved
The Canadiens have finished their season for two weeks now, but they still find a way to be talked about, especially regarding Juraj Slafkovsky.
Indeed, the first overall pick first made headlines for his participation in the World Championship with Slovakia, and then for not joining his teammates in time because he stays in Montreal for injury reasons.
Anyway, it doesn't seem too worrying for now, but I'm keeping an eye on the situation just in case. If he can't make it to Finland, you'll know.
What we're talking about here happened in the second-to-last game of the season. Slaf made a move that went unpunished but is illegal.
The NHL even reviewed this sequence with the officials to remind them that it's an automatic penalty. Juraj is therefore, albeit unwittingly, the subject of a viral video for an illegal act.
Here's the video in question:
Slaf skillfully sent Nick Suzuki's stick into the air for the captain to catch. A spectacular move, but illegal and dangerous in the eyes of the League. Here's the rule:
"A player who has lost or broken his stick may receive a replacement stick by having it handed to him from his own players' bench or a teammate on the ice, or by picking it up. A player will be penalized if he throws or shoots a stick to a teammate on the ice, or if he picks up and plays with an opponent's stick. A player may not participate in the play using a goaltender's stick. A minor penalty shall be imposed for any infraction of this rule."
It's not a big deal that the referees missed the penalty call on the play, but the consequences could have been more serious if someone had been hit in the face with the stick.
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