There's something special about a teammate who has your back, particularly when the league you play in doesn't seem to. Such is the case for Connor McDavid with Oilers fellow superstar centre Leon Draisaitl, who criticised the three-game suspension handed out on Monday to number 97.
We've already written about how the NHL has let McDavid down. How game officials, the Department of Player Safety and even Gary Bettman should be ashamed of themselves for letting the game's best player continue to take punishment and not get enough protection.
Draisaitl clearly believes the three-game suspension handed to McDavid for crosschecking the Canucks' Conor Garland on Saturday night, is too harsh. As per Josh Gold-Smith of the Score, he spoke to the media on Tuesday and said:
"I certainly think three games is a little too much, for either side, but I guess we don't overly care about having our best players in the league in the game, so I'll leave it at that,"
A situation which should have been avoided
We won't get into Tyler Myers' own three-game suspension, but Draisaitl went on to criticise game officials for not dealing with Garland holding McDavid down on the ice for far too long, thus causing the reaction. He said:
"That's, to me, clearly a penalty. Connor doesn't want to tangle with Garland in that situation. There's 12 seconds left. We're looking to score, we're not looking to tangle with anybody. I also know the game happens quick and the refs aren't going to make the right call every single time, I understand that. But in that instance, I think that could've been avoided."
Connor McDavid won't contest the suspension
As much as McDavid has every right to feel aggrieved, he has decided not to take this matter further by getting Bettman involved. As per ESPN's Greg Wyshynski, the seven-time NHL All-Star and the NHLPA will not appeal the ludicrous three-game suspension.
As a result, McDavid will miss the Oilers' Tuesday night clash with the Washington Capitals, the rematch with the Vancouver Canucks and a game against the lowly Buffalo Sabres. However, this doesn't necessarily mean there won't be some fallout from the NHL's decision to suspend him.
As we covered earlier on Tuesday, a report from the 2 Mutts Hockey Podcast claims the three-time Hart Trophy winner and his camp are strongly considering scaling back their marketing of the NHL at league events. The thinking is, that this is one of the best ways to draw attention to the lack of protection star players get in the game.
Pending the accuracy of the report, whether McDavid actually goes through with this is open to debate, with us ultimately believing he won't. However, it doesn't mitigate how serious the issue is in how officials are calling -- or more to the point not calling -- games.
We will stress once more that the five-time Art Ross Trophy winner was wrong for what he did to Garland on Saturday night, but it didn't exactly come without provocation. It will be interesting to see what happens moving forward, as the last thing the NHL needs is any negativity being attached to their reputation as they struggle to stay close to the NBA and MLB in terms of popularity. (We didn't include the NFL, as they are so clearly way ahead of the chasing pack.)