Defenseman Suspended for Slashing Flyers’ All-Star Forward

On Friday evening, the NHL Department of Player Safety announced that Montreal defenseman Kaiden Guhle was suspended one game for slashing Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny in Thursday night’s game.

Guhle, 22, slashed Konecny from the Montreal bench with five seconds remaining in the second period. He was not assessed a penalty for the dangerous and reckless move.

Per the NHL, “Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Guhle will forfeit $4,496.53. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.”

Konecny was involved in a tussle with Montreal forward Juraj Slafkovsky before Guhle came down on the Flyers forward from behind the bench.

With only 112 games of NHL experience, Guhle, the 16th overall pick in 2020, will serve the first suspension of his young NHL career.

The news comes just hours after the NHL slapped Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway with a $2,000 fine for embellishment, which took place on March 23 against Boston. Hathaway was previously issued a warning by the League for the same offense on Jan. 2, back when Philadelphia played Edmonton.

After seeing the specific video replay of both incidents, Guhle’s case was cut-and-dried while Hathaway’s was ambiguous at best.

Hopefully, this is a learning experience for the young Montreal defenseman; athletes do have to control their emotions from time to time, and in this case, that stuff needs to be checked at the door.

It is explicitly against the rules to interfere with play from the bench.