Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Conor Timmins has been fined by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for cross-checking Seattle Kraken winger Brandon Tanev.
The incident occurred early in the first period of Sunday’s game between the Maple Leafs and Kraken. Timmins, 25, and Tanev were skating behind the net when the Leafs defender cross-checked the Kraken forward below the numbers, which sent him sliding into the boards.
The play resulted in a few penalties due to a fight that ensued after Tanev tried to fight with Timmins after the hit, with Simon Benoit sticking up for his Leafs defense partner. Both Benoit and Tanev received two minute minors for roughing, while Timmins got a two-minute minor for cross-checking, resulting in a power play for the Kraken. The Kraken did not score on that power play, with the Leafs going on to win the game 3-1.
Timmins has struggled to get into the lineup consistently this season due to injuries and healthy scratches, but when he has, he’s been relatively productive with 1 goals and 5 assists for 6 points in 15 games. That would put him on pace for 32 points in a full season, well surpassing his career-high of 14 achieved with the Leafs last season.
Timmins has been one of the better playmaking defenders in the league since joining the Leafs, as his 0.93 primary assists per 60 minutes this season is the sixth-best mark in the league among defensemen in the last two seasons with at least 600 minutes of ice time, behind just Quinn Hughes, Cale Makar, Erik Karlsson, Noah Dobson and Josh Morrissey.
Timmins was a former second-round pick of the Colorado Avalanche in the 2017 NHL Draft, and spent two seasons with the Avs before he was dealt to the Arizona Coyotes in the 2021 offseason as part of the return for Darcy Kuemper. He spent parts of two seasons in Arizona before he was traded again to the Maple Leafs early on in the 2022-23 season for Curtis Douglas, and he’s since spent the past two seasons with the Leafs.
Timmins is currently in the first year of a two-year contract with a $1.1 million cap hit, a deal he signed with the Leafs as an extension during the 2022-23 season.
The Leafs will look to build off of their win over the Kraken when they host the Winnipeg Jets in the first game of a home-and-home on Wednesday on 7 p.m. EST. They currently sit in third in the Atlantic Division with a 23-14-8 record.
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