Buffalo forward Torrey Mitchell isn’t scheduled to face a disciplinary hearing for his hit Sunday night on Toronto’s Cody Franson, an NHL spokesman has confirmed.
Here’s the play in question:
Franson left the game following the collision and didn’t return. Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle didn’t have much of an update on Franson post-game, but offered up his “synopsis” to reporters.
“He went awkwardly into the boards and he fell pretty hard,” Carlyle explained. “It looked like he hit his knee cap or some part of the leg went underneath him into the boards first so I can’t really make a comment other than that synopsis.”
Mitchell wasn’t penalized on the play but, given his history with these sorts of incidents -- he was the forechecker that caused Kurtis Foster’s serious leg break five years ago -- at least one major outlet was calling for a suspension.
Any player who fails to realize that it’s dangerous to push another player with momentum into the boards from behind needs to have the privilege of playing hockey taken away from him for a significant amount of time. And that’s what should happen with Mitchell for his hit on Franson. And not one of these NHL namby-pamby suspensions where Mitchell would have to endure the misfortune of missing Buffalo’s two final pre-season games.
It’s obvious this young man needs to watch the game for a lengthy period of time so he can realize that playing it recklessly is potentially just as dangerous as playing it dirty.
It’s worth noting that Mitchell avoided suspension for the Foster hit as well.
