St. Louis Blues: Oskar Sundqvist Fine Against Chicago Ridiculous

The St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks rivalry is one of the best in the NHL. However, the league apparently wants to throw cold water on some of the heated parts of the game.

The St. Louis Blues had a good, old fashioned rivalry game with the Chicago Blackhawks on March 8, 2020. The Blues won 2-0 and it was almost as good as the old days with the chippiness and there was even a fight.

What stirred the fight, however, was an accidental hand to the face. Now, the perpetrator of that hit, Oskar Sundqvist has been fined by the NHL Office of Player Safety.

The fact Sundqvist received any punishment is ridiculous. He was penalized and even that was questionable.

They called it elbowing when the elbow made no contact. There was also a roughing call levied against Sundqvist, but that was likely for the fracas after.

The video is below. Judge for yourself.

Bias aside, I just don’t see anything deserving of a fine. Sundqvist was actually going for the puck.

He puts his hip out to either hit the player or cushion himself against the boards. It was Adam Boqvist‘s stick that lifted Sundqvist’s legs up into the air.

Sundqvist was off balance and his arm came out to steady himself. The arm was going to come out no matter whether there was a player there or not.

Unfortunately, Boqvist got hit in the face with Sundqvist’s glove and likely the butt end of the shaft of the stick. He left the game and did not return due to concussion protocol.

That is very unfortunate, but the contact was incidental and accidental. It was not as though Sundqvist went head hunting.

Frankly, the only reason this suspension likely happened is because Sundqvist has been suspended before. Admittedly, that suspension seemed wrong because the Boston player’s skates got caught up in the ice and if he went around the boards like normal, it would have been a clean hit.

Regardless, at least that suspension was understandable, even if not agreeable. This fine makes no sense.

Granted, the Blues do not lose a player, but Sundqvist loses money. We are fining players for accidents now?

Don’t try to sell that nonsense of having to control your stick either. There is not a human being in the world that would lose their balance and not have their arm fling out.

The frustrating thing from a fan standpoint is there seems to be no consistency situation to situation. Refereeing is at an all-time low and now the league is fining players for no reason.