So, after what we hope was at least a thorough review, the NHL and it’s Department of Player Safety have determined that Matthew Tkachuk’s hit on Jake Guentzel at the end of Game 3 was not worthy of supplemental discipline. While they are unlikely to release a public statement as to why the interference didn’t warrant a fine or suspension, they have let their thoughts trickle out through the media.
We have thoughts.
— Raw Charge (@rawcharge.com) April 27, 2025 at 12:35 PM
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Our initial reaction was, surprisingly, one of shock. Was their a little anger mixed in there? Sure. We’ll admit it, we have a bias in this situation. We aren’t a hockey blog or a NHL blog, we’re a Tampa Bay Lightning blog. So to say we didn’t have an opinion on the hit and lack of suspension would be disingenuous at best.
As for the hit. It is what it is. Tkachuk saw an opportunity to make a big hit on an unsuspecting player and took it. Just like Brandon Hagel did in Game 2. Both were called for major inference penalties, which were reviewed and upheld. Fine. Everyone is on board with things as they transpired. It allowed Coach Cooper to throw some shade back at Paul Maurice as he echoed his, “the only players we hit are the ones with pucks” comment following the game.
The questions come with the decision not to further discipline Tkachuk, a player who has a couple of suspensions to his name already. In the video ruling for the Hagel suspension they stated that “long after the puck is gone, Hagel loads up and delivers a high, hard body check that makes some head contact on [Aleksander] Barkov”.
That is what they use as the definition of interference. They stress that Barkov never touched the puck and therefore isn’t eligible to be hit. The onus is on Hagel to know that before intentionally delivering a “forceful body check to an unsuspecting opponent with sufficient force for supplemental discipline”.
Now, it we were to go into those previous two paragraphs and change the names to Tkachuck and Guentzel, how much changes? Basically one key point, the touching of the puck. In the NHL’s eyes a late hit is okay as long as the player touched it at some point in the not too distant past. But where is that line drawn?
Yes, Guentzel touched the puck as he fed it up to Anthony Cirelli for the empty-net goal. The Tkachuk hit doesn’t come immediately after Guentzel lets the pass go. The puck is at least as far away from Guentzel as it was from Barkov prior to the hit from Hagel. The refs, by the very nature of the call, confirmed this by calling interference against Tkachuk in the first place. The rule book defines possession in regards to interference this way:
The player deemed in possession of the puck may be checked legally, provided the check is
NHL rule book – Rule 56.1
rendered immediately following his loss of possession.
So, by calling it interference, and then, at their discretion due to the degree of violence of the hit raising it to a major, they have put this on the same level as the Hagel hit. It doesn’t matter that Guentzel had touched the puck, by calling interference on the play, they are stating that he is no longer deemed in possession of the puck, therefore, like Barkov, is ineligible to be hit.
The DoPS has, in previous rulings, factored in similar plays where interference was called on the last player to touch a puck. Take for instance, Emil Lilleberg’s two-game suspension earlier in the season for his hit on J.T. Compher. The explanation video uses the phrase “outside of the window where a check may be legally made” as a definition of interference. Again, a definition that fits the play from Tkachuk.
Please don’t think this is a complaint that the NHL/refs/media partners hate the Lightning. The league doesn’t care about any individual team outside of how much money they can make for them. Suspending Tkachuk for one game isn’t costing the NHL any money. So while we will admit to a bias toward the Lightning, that doesn’t equate to us believing that it’s the Lightning vs. the world.
We’re also going to strip away the context of the hits themselves. Hagel hit a player he thought touched the puck in a 1-0 game. Tkachuk hit an unsuspecting player making a pass at the tail-end of a game that was 4-1 at the time. One is a hockey play, one is a player looking to make a statement. However, the league doesn’t consider those circumstances in their rulings.
Nor do they care that Guentzel’s head bounced off the ice following the hit. If Tkachuk had made contact with Guentzel’s head directly on the hit, it’s a different story, but his head bouncing off the ice as a result of the hit doesn’t matter in their interpretation. Should it? Well, that’s an argument for another day.
It is significant to us that in Hagel’s video it is briefly mentioned. Had it been the reason for the suspension, they would have made a bigger deal out of it in our opinion. Instead they stressed the fact that Barkov wasn’t eligible to be hit because he hadn’t touched the puck. Had he touched the puck, would it have even been a penalty?
What bothers us the most, is that it muddies the picture for the players on the ice as to what kind of hit will elicit supplemental discipline. Are you okay as long as a player had touched a puck sometime in the previous 2 seconds? Is it one second? Is it twelve seconds? So can Mitchell Chaffee run Eetu Luostarinen 5 seconds after the Panther forward dumps a puck in from the red line as long he doesn’t hit him in the head? Can Brad Marchand put his shoulder through Gage Goncalves’ chest 8 seconds after a goalie covers a puck?
Add in the “not considered at the level of Hagel/Barkov” level and it’s even more confusing. How hard of a hit is too hard? Both players buried their shoulders into the chest of their opponents. Should we factor in the size? Barkov is is 6’3″ and 214 lbs while Jake Guentzel is 5’11” and 178 lbs. Should players have to factor that in before deciding how hard to hit somebody?
The league could have easily spun up a justification video for suspending Tkachuk for one game, heck, there is probably even a video still that makes it look like Tkachuck made “some” contact with Guentzel’s head if that’s what they need to sleep at night. How much of an argument are they going to get if Tkachuk’s gone for one game? Outside of Panthers fans, probably not much.
At the same time, had they chosen not to suspend Hagel, we would be fine with them not suspending Tkachuk. Either suspend them both, or suspend neither. By choosing to do one, but not the other the league continues to vaguely define what is allowed and what isn’t, and then acts shocked when players don’t know where to draw the line.
In the end, the decision is done. The series will go on. Maybe the hitting will intensify, maybe it won’t. If it does, the Department of Player Safety will probably have to spin their wheel of justice one more time instead of basing their decisions on common sense and precedent.
