Darnell Nurse Causes a Stir Following his Comments on the Ryan Reaves' Hit
Edmonton's Darnell Nurse was leveled by a hit by Toronto's Ryan Reaves and finally opened up to the media about his thoughts on the whole ordeal.
It was a controversial hit last Saturday night when Ryan Reaves laid out Edmonton's Darnell Nurse leading him to leave the game and Reaves being handed a five-game suspension.
No one was happy about the situation.
Craig Berube needed to hold his tongue lest he be fined by the NHL, Edmonton's players hated what they saw as a dangerous play, and Reaves has been silenced from speaking out about the whole thing.
But what about the player who was hit?
Darnell Nurse spoke to the media about the repercussions of the hit, and while he didn't necessarily blame Reaves completely; he did stir the pot and call him out indirectly:
With that said, even if you put yourself in a bad spot there is a lot of body on a 6'4" hockey player to hit and not one piece was touched other than my head," Nurse told reporters
Nurse is right on both accounts and it shows the maturity of the veteran to still feel valid resentment but also acknowledge he also has a job to do. Reaves did try to smooth things over afterward but no word on the result.
The onus of the players to keep their heads up is a huge discussion around the league.
Matthew Knies was knocked out of Wednesday's game thanks to Zach Whitecloud's controversial hit, with many arguing Knies needed to keep his head up.
There was also the case of Jacob Trouba earlier this season where he caught Montreal Canadiens defenseman Justin Barron with a hit to the head, and like Knies' hit, many argued for Barron to have more awareness.
There's no doubt players need to be aware with the puck, but they also need to be if they are chasing.
There's a time and place to lay a big hit, and the angle Reaves took on Nurse was classified by the NHL as incorrect, and if he had taken a different approach he would have not gotten slammed so hard.
Look at Tanner Jeannot earlier this season, who got handed a three-game ban for his nasty headshot on Brock Boeser.
There was a much better alternative for Jeannot, and while Reaves' wasn't as malicious, there was enough evidence to think he could have altered things.
It's good to see that it looks like Darnell Nurse avoided serious injury, and Reaves perhaps has learned his lesson.
You can be rough, you can be aggressive. Just don't be stupid.
| POLL | ||
Should Ryan Reaves have been suspended for the hit on Darnell Nurse? | ||
| Yes absolutely! | 673 | 63.2 % |
| No it was clean! | 392 | 36.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
