Radko Gudas DESTROYS Jimmy Vesey pic.twitter.com/3WSp174tqT
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) October 3, 2016
It took six minutes, 27 seconds of ice time into his preseason debut for Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas to get himself in trouble. With half a minute left in the first on Tuesday night, Gudas delivered a dangerous hit from behind against Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey.
The play led to a three penalties against Gudas: a roughing minor, a fighting major and a game misconduct. New York’s Dylan McIlrath also saw a fighting major, a minor for instigation and the 10 minute misconduct that comes with it.
Gudas always has been a player that walks on the line with these sorts of things, and this one will definitely be reviewed by the league office. Gudas’ status as a repeat offender will do him no favors, and make no mistake that this was a hit Gudas should not have delivered. He had time when he saw Vesey’s numbers and still decided to level the hit.
On the flip side, the fact that Vesey turned into the hit will be weighed here, as the NHL’s Department of Player Safety often takes into account when players put themselves in vulnerable positions such as this. Even further, Vesey returned for the second period and appears to be fine, and rightfully or not, DoPS often takes injury into account when deciding these things as well.
We’ll see what happens here, but don’t be shocked if Gudas misses some time.
