There are multiple layers to the Sam Lafferty hit that knocked Filip Chytil out of the game just over two minutes into the second period of the Rangers’ 7-1 victory over the Blackhawks in Chicago on Sunday.
Let’s address them.
• The blow delivered by the 27-year-old forward was late and to the head. It was deserving of a penalty despite ESPN analyst Brian Boucher’s seal of approval. Beyond that, the hit is deserving of supplemental discipline. Of course, for a penalty to have been called and for a suspension to be issued, the NHL would have to be in the business of protecting their players’ health. That’s never been all that much of a priority, at least when it comes to hits to the head and concussion awareness. Update: No supplemental discipline. Who is surprised?
• Nevertheless, Chytil should have been more aware of the vulnerable spot in which he’d left himself against the rear boards while watching his centering pass to Kaapo Kakko from below the goal line. The league is less physical than ever and so players may be less cognizant of the danger that is always lurking, but Chytil’s vulnerability to big hits has been a running narrative for years as applied to No. 72, who should have kept an eye out and his stick up for the encroaching Lafferty.
