Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
With William Nylander fined for his actions during Sunday’s game, it’s opened up a heated debate over whether or not he should have received punishment at all.
As the dust settles from the weekend, the big story coming out of Toronto was William Nylander’s actions during last Sunday’s game vs. Colorado where he was seen giving an obscene gesture while in the press box.
Should Nylander have even been fined in the first place? The debate grows
Though it’s the fine itself that has sparked a larger debate over whether or not it’s actually a fineable offense, and that the potential bias of the NHL could be seeping through.
TSN’s Chris Johnston raised a question when he put out the question of why Nylander’s got punished meanwhile Utah’s Mikhail Sergachev was unpunished for his flipping of the bird last year:
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.
Even former Boston defenseman Andrew Ference was only issued a $2,500 fine for doing the same thing towards Montreal fans during a game in 2011.
It sounds more like the league was trying to issue a harsh punishment to quiet the noise around the situation as it’s caused a lot of debate within Toronto media and the Maple Leafs fans.
Those fans didn’t take too kindly to the fine as you would expect:
It’s clear the fanbase is upset and these are just a couple of the hundreds of comments regarding the matter.
The NHL and their bias against Toronto becoming an issue
There’s no concrete evidence that the NHL is biased against the Maple Leafs but there certainly is a piling list of circumstantial evidence that may show more than the league hopes.
It’s frustrating for fans because it robs the team of chances to get things going during a game, and to see some pretty awful calls go unpunished while Toronto gets the strap each time feels like a vendetta for whatever reason.
Then you add the fact they get players injured and the only punishment is they’re down a man and you have a volatile situation that will get worse the longer Parros remains in charge.
So while Nylander did indeed break the rules, it seems like those rules can be modified for others so that unlike the Maple Leafs, they can get away scot-free and get carte blanche to do whatever they please.
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The Nylander fine just reopened a league-wide debate, and it’s getting loud
Did William Nylander deserve a $5,000 fine for his actions during Sunday’s game vs. Colorado?