Sidney Crosby’s flailing stick claimed a handful of victims this week, the latest of whom has an NHL owner calling for his indefinite suspension.
Senators owner Eugene Melnyk savaged the Penguins star Friday morning for his vicious two-handed slash on the hands of Ottawa defenseman Marc Methot, forcing Methot to leave Thursday night’s game with a brutally severed finger.
After the Senators got slight revenge for the bloody mess, defeating the Penguins 2-1, they learned they would be without their top-pair defenseman for at least 10 games — while Crosby is expected to return to the ice Friday night unpunished.
“Sometimes they miss these things. I hope this guy, and we all know who he is, the guy is a just a whiner beyond belief,” Melnyk said on Ottawa’s TSN 1200. “You do this kind of stuff, and I don’t care who you are in the league, I don’t care if you’re the No. 1 player in the league, you should sit out a long time for this kind of crap. I really do.”
Melnyk, who said he has yet to hear back from the league about whether Crosby will face any discipline for the incident, scoffed at the NHL not taking action considering the severity of the injury. He said he felt sick recalling the image of Methot’s nearly hacked-off finger.
“The guy lost the top of his finger? Did you see it? It’s ugly. I wouldn’t want to show that to anybody under the age of 25,” Melnyk said. “You do anything that’s almost a certain injury and I think the only way to do it is you wipe the guy off the map … not for one or two games, or how about a season for a few of these guys?”
If Crosby is ever to learn a lesson, in Melnyk’s raging opinion, the league must be willing to remove one of its money-making attractions from the ice for the sport’s long-term safety.
“That’s the only way to do it,” he said. “You hammer these guys, take away their money — because they all understand money — and you simply say, ‘You’re done for 10 games and guess what, you guys aren’t even going to get close to the Stanley Cup if it’s an elite player on the other side.’ There’s no room for it in the NHL.”
Crosby offered little sympathy for Methot’s gruesome injury, saying he’s had to deal with his own fair share of hits.
“I’m just trying to get his stick, and I think I caught his finger, judging by his reaction and their reaction,” Crosby said after the game. “I’ve gotten those before, they don’t feel good.”
Crosby’s claim becomes less convincing when you recall he sneakily put his stick in Sabres forward Ryan O’Reilly’s groin Tuesday night. O’Reilly fell to the ice, allowing a Penguins defender to get free for a clearing pass.
Crosby, who has returned to All-Star form after recovering from a string of concussions, may need to watch his back after this tumultuous week — in case more of his opponents are looking for payback, like Sabres bad boy Evander Kane, who sent Crosby flying with a stick to the face two periods after O’Reilly’s groin shot.