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NHL Fails To Properly Punish Domi’s Sucker Punch

By Derian Carmichael

MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 19: Montreal Canadiens left wing Max Domi (13) battles with Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) for position during the second period of the NHL preseason game between the New Florida Panthers and the Montreal Canadiens on September 19, 2018, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - SEPTEMBER 19: Montreal Canadiens left wing Max Domi (13) battles with Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) for position during the second period of the NHL preseason game between the New Florida Panthers and the Montreal Canadiens on September 19, 2018, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, QC (Photo by Vincent Ethier/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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The NHL failed to give Montreal Canadiens forward Max Domi an appropriate punishment for punching Aaron Ekblad.

The NHL missed the mark by failing to hand out proper punishment against Montreal Canadiens forward Max Domi for his sucker punch on Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad.

Domi was handed a slap on the wrist after being suspended for the rest of the preseason for his actions. Players not only don’t want to play in the preseason as they wait for the regular season to begin, but they also aren’t paid during the preseason. Therefore, he won’t be missing any game checks for his classless sucker punch.

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The NHL misses the mark in this situation in several areas. Firstly, they failed to properly punish a player who lost his cool and deliberately attempted to start a fight with an unwilling player. Ekblad had no interest in fighting Domi.

His team was winning the game so he didn’t want to give the Canadiens any chance of a momentum swing. Not to mention, Ekblad has been injury prone in his young career. Fighting in the preseason would be a foolish decision for one of the most important players on the Panthers.

Part of what has kept Ekblad out of the lineup has been his issues with concussions over the years. Had Domi’s bare-knuckle punch to the face given him another concussion, this whole situation would be significantly worse for all parties involved. The NHL would no doubt hand him a much more severe suspension. Meanwhile the Panthers would be fuming even more so than they are now that it wouldn’t be enough of a suspension.

Given all the talk about concussions and player safety, the NHL could have used Domi to set an example right at the start of the 2018-19 season. Had Domi been forced to miss regular season games then other players in the league would have thought twice about hitting an unsuspecting player in the head. Instead, Domi gets off with a minor inconvenience of not being able to experiment as the Canadiens’ top line center until the real games begin in two weeks.

A big key in the whole situation was Ekblad wasn’t expecting a bare-knuckle punch to his face. In fact, he wasn’t even looking at Domi. Ekblad had allowed Domi to shove his left glove hand into his face multiple times prior to the refs gathering to separate both players. Replay shows Ekblad was looking at one of the officials with a look that almost suggested enough’s enough break this up. It was at that moment, with Ekblad’s head turned away from Domi that the Canadiens biggest offseason addition dropped his right glove and sucker punched the Florida defenseman.

This situation would be different if both players had agree to fight and Domi had simply got the first punch in. However, Ekblad wanted nothing to do with Domi. He looked at Domi as a desperate player trying to create a desperate act for his struggling team. Some could make the case the forward and the defenseman were battling all evening and frustration got the better of Domi but that isn’t a valid enough excuse.

At a time when it appeared the NHL was approving when it came to player safety they completely dropped the ball failing to dish out a tougher punishment on Domi. At the very least Domi should have suspended for three-to-five regular season games.

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It shouldn’t matter that Ekblad wasn’t seriously injured and passed the concussion protocol tests. Domi’s actions were selfish and clearly had intentions of hurting Ekblad. This wasn’t a hockey play and this wasn’t an accident. The fact Ekblad was only left bloody and wasn’t concussed shouldn’t factor into the punishment, especially when it’s well known had Ekblad been concussed than Domi would likely be facing a 5-to-10 game suspension to start the regular season.

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