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The NHL held a disciplinary hearing with Penguins forward Jared McCann, due to an elbowing incident and has ruled down with a penalty of a fine on McCann. From the league:
Pittsburgh Penguins forward Jared McCann has been fined $10,000, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for elbowing Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim during NHL Game No. 18 in Philadelphia on Friday, Jan. 15, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.
The incident occurred at 14:32 of the second period. McCann was assessed a minor penalty for elbowing
The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
It was a nasty play as McCann lifted his arm pretty needlessly and directly into the head of Sanheim.
Jared McCann gets two minutes for an elbow to the head of Sanheim. Sanheim appears to be OK but something to watch. pic.twitter.com/5QeCr7jns3
— NHL Safety Watch (@NHLSafetyWatch) January 16, 2021
The fortunate news is that Sanheim did not seem to suffer any injury on the play, which probably helped McCann avoid being suspended. This was unusual to see McCann involved in such a play, he has not been suspended in a 312 game NHL career and is known more as a speed or skill player than a physical or dirty one.
It was quite the physical night for McCann, he (cleanly) put a bodycheck on Flyers forward Sean Couturier that seemingly was the cause of knocking the Flyer star out of the game. Philadelphia announced today that Couturier is out at least two weeks with a sternum/chest type of injury.
This hit that Couturier took at the end of his last shift. Missed the rest of the first period. pic.twitter.com/vxVzsbWmNh
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) January 16, 2021
Knowing that McCann was possibly going to be suspended, the Pens practiced today rotating rookie forward Drew O’Connor in McCann’s spot on some line rushes, just in case McCann would be unavailable. That’s an interesting development that O’Connor is closer to the game lineup than other more experienced taxi squad forwards like Anthony Angello or Frederick Gaudreau.
Then again, with McCann avoiding a suspension, and Kasperi Kapanen getting closer to making his Pittsburgh debut as he prepares to emerge from his COVID quarantine, it might be a while before O’Connor gets such an opportunity.
For now, McCann is lucky to have not been suspended and we’ll see moving forward if he continues his surprisingly physical play this season in hopefully a clean manner.