The play went uncalled at the time.
Tampa Bay’s Mikhail Sergachev has been fined $5,000, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for Slashing Toronto’s Michael Bunting.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) December 21, 2022
The game on Tuesday night was a very Bunting-filled night. He got his 100th point of his NHL career, he got shoved around by a linesman, got a dirty hit at the boards from Nikita Kucherov, and he also got this:
slash on Bunting that went uncalled pic.twitter.com/6lv8k7VFRq
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) December 21, 2022
It actually looks mild in slo-mo, here’s another look:
Apparently this two-hander from Sergachev preceded the end of period scrum with Bunting. No call but i didnt need to tell you that. pic.twitter.com/SUaaJcPaGz
— ًًً (@twistedleafs) December 21, 2022
The fine system is one of the biggest mysteries of the NHL. The maximum has remained unchanged for years, the amount means nothing to most players, and it doesn’t have any noticeable deterrent effect. Fines don’t count for the system of “repeat offender” that determines how salary is withheld in a suspension, but they may affect future suspension length. We have no way of knowing if that is true.
But hey, the NHL noticed something they should call every time wasn’t called.