The 2023 NHL playoffs have been incredibly rough and tumble. So much so that the league’s premier star players are even getting involved in some of the violence.
Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar was the perpetrator on Monday night. Makar labeled Seattle Kraken forward Jared McCann with a brutal hit away from the puck that took McCann out of the game.
Makar was originally handed a five-minute major for interference but had the penalty reduced to just a two-minute minor after review.
Jared McCann went straight to the locker room after being interfered with by Cale Makar in the corner#SeaKraken | #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/NJTVhUFpAC
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights (@HockeyDaily365) April 25, 2023
The play occurred with 11:36 remaining in the first period with the Kraken up 1-0 in a pivotal Game Four. Seattle would end up winning in overtime 3-2 and evening the first-round series up at two wins apiece.
The two players met up behind the Colorado net after McCann broke into the Avalanche’s zone and fired a shot off of netminder Alexandar Georgiev’s shoulder into the crowd. McCann slowly starts to circle back toward the neutral zone but before he can even fully complete his turn he gets labeled by Makar into the boards. The hit came very late and nowhere near the now out-of-play puck but before any whistle. The impact whiplashed McCann’s head off the glass.
The 26-year-old left wing stayed down and needed attention on the ice from Seattle’s training staff before heading straight to the locker room. Kraken coach Dave Hakstol says he was told by the officials that the reason for the reduction in penalty is that they believed a puck battle was still occurring when the hit happened.
“Obviously I disagree with that assessment,” Hakstol told Tacoma News Tribune’s Gregg Bell postgame. “That’s not an accurate description of the play.
“What I saw live and after the period on video was a late hit where the puck is out of play,” he continued. “Canner shoots that puck and it goes immediately out of play straight up into the netting. I believe the puck is being caught by a fan as Canner is being run into the end wall. Late hit. Really late. No puck in play. Our 40-goal scorer not available for the rest of the game and not going to be available going forward here.”
Hakstol declared McCann out of action for Game Five and was not confident about his status even past that.
This does not look good for Jared McCann. pic.twitter.com/2aIV3GNOMk
— Sound Of Hockey (@sound_hockey) April 25, 2023
Makar on the other hand was confused about all the attention the play received.
“I didn’t feel like I tried to finish him that hard,” he told The Athletic’s Peter Baugh. “I feel like if I was in that scenario they would have done the exact same thing. I’m not trying to hurt anybody.”
To Makar’s credit, he has never been fined or suspended at the NHL level. There is no word yet on if the league will take a further look at the hit. If Makar does turn out to be available for the next game in the series which returns to Colorado, he’ll probably need to avoid some attempted retribution.
Puck drop for that matchup is at 9:30 pm ET.
Update (8:55 am): Cale Makar will indeed have a hearing with the Department of Player Safety.
Colorado’s Cale Makar will have a hearing today for Interference against Seattle’s Jared McCann.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) April 25, 2023
Screenshot via TBS
