[Chris Johnston] Two things are true here: I’m not sure why one middle finger earns a $5,000 fine and another goes unpunished. That’s likely tied to how much noise an incident generates. But we also don’t want players doing this sort of thing either, obviously. Anyway … time to move on

44 comments

  2. “Time to move on,” yeah Chris let’s just ignore you admitting that one team is punished differently than the league’s other 31 teams because they have a wider audience. How is this a national reporter who works for two of the sport’s biggest news platforms?

  3. Do you think he was flipping off the media or just goofing around and trying to be funny? Just a question out of curiosity here.

  7. So a reporter is saying it’s clearly more advantageous to be in a small market team in terms of disciplinary action.

  8. I’m so feed up with people who don’t cheer for these idiots telling me to move on as we continuously get kicked in the balls

    Because we’re the only irrelevant team in this fucking league 😭

  10. Time to move on indeed. Good lord I’ve seen this image every hour since it happened yesterday.

    Everyone hates the leafs. We know 😔

  14. I mean personally I don’t love it becoming a thing that’s allowed but also I think fines are stupid if they’re capped so low and it’s just the middle finger so idek how I feel anymore. It feels hard to care about any of this other than the fact that it, like so much in the NHL, is inconsistent. And I’m not a conspiracy theorist who thinks everything bad that happens to the Leafs is because they’re the Leafs, I don’t like inconsistency, period. The Leafs are far from the only team to get screwed over so often, and the fact that like half the league’s fanbases minimum are pissed about how much Vegas and Florida gets away with should say a lot.

  15. I wasn’t aware of the other incident but yes – they SHOULD be assessed similarly however we all know DoPs hates the leafs. Let’s put this one to bed

  16. [Kolesar rips jersey besmirching teammate] – Leafs fans: “He deserves to get fined for that!!”

    [Nylander flips bird in the middle of a Next Gen broadcast] – Leafs fans: “OMG what a rockstar!!”

  17. “Anyway, time to move on.”

    Or… maybe not. Maybe it’s time to actually embrace that receiving media coverage impacts how the DOPS treats the Leafs, and it likely is why refs are scared to call penalties against other teams against us.

  18. Literally just gloss over the fact that the league has different rules for different teams. AKA the league is rigged. This league is a joke.

  19. Ultimately I feel like the team should have doled out a fine instead of the league. Ultimately Nylander is their responsibility and his behaviour falls under their purview.

    To do this at a “next gen” game is definitely not a great look when you maybe have more kids attending the game.  

  20. CJ needs to grow a spine. He like many others in Toronto’s market are afraid to call out DoPS and the double standards that’ve plagued the department for decades.

    “Anyways, time to move on” is cowardice.

  21. Another CJ masterclass of not actually reporting anything in particular and just speculating.

  22. I’m out of the loop. What did Sergachev do? I did a quick google search and didn’t see anything

  25. Don’t want players doing this sort of thing? More like the NHL needs to remove the stick from its ass.

  27. I wonder if Johnson has the brain cells to extend this line of thinking further and try to explain why he made so much more noise about Nylander than he did about Sergachev. It’s really fucking obnoxious to see him talk about “noise” like it’s some act of God and not a thing he actively contributes to.

  28. The way we prop up these poverty franchises and have to deal with barrages of non calls/game management…imagine another premier NFL/NBA/MLB franchise dealing with this lol

    I love the leafs but FUCK the NHL.

  29. I wasn’t aware of the Sergachev incident but the reasoning seems pretty clear to me. The league has always cared more about optics than consistency when applying its rules and this is the case on multiple fronts (e.g. make up calls, letting things go in the playoffs, etc).

    The Leafs have too many eyes on them at all times to let things slip. Nothing flies under the radar for us so the league has to act to save face and appear legitimate

  30. Reminder Trouba got a smaller fine for taking Sid out of the Playoffs with a chicken wing to the head enroute to a 3-1 comeback for the Rangers.

    I like Steve, but ultimately he’s a small influencer who probably experiences significantly worse from other people on a daily basis on account of being a massive supporter for a very polarizing team in the league and I find it odd DOPS used this as the reason to Crack down on players acting unprofessional in the public eye.

    Hell this isn’t even the worst thing he’s encountered from a Leafs player is you read his book and learned about the issue with Marner’s ex-security staff over an admittedly polarizing statement from Steve regarding his play

  33. This just proves NHL = Leafs, and the Leafs winning the Stanley cup is equivalent to the destruction on the ring in the fire of mount doom.

  38. Nylander got fined because he’s a better player and is more popular than Sergachev. We hold superstars to higher standards.

  39. Anyway…time to move on.

    Well thank God Chris. You’ve posted about this topic like 7 times now and already wrote a whole article too.

  40. People might not like it but the noise around is a huge part. Like the Nylander thing was up seconds after it happened. The Sergachev one happened what last year and most people never knew it happened.

    In a perfect world yes he should have been fined too but at the end of the day corporations will let things slide if they can, ask the blackhawks.

  43. I know why because he plays for the leafs,
    It’s a thing why not sure but it is 🤷

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