When stars get injured on illegal plays that go uncalled, most referees know to let the coach let off some steam. Wes McCauley decided to use Sheldon Keefe’s justified anger to bury the team last night.
It’s not every day you see an NHL head coach kicked off the bench.
This is not baseball, where manager ejections are a weekly occurence. This is not basketball, where coaches get technical fouls for sneezing the wrong way. This is hockey, where officials have a constant dialogue with coaches and players. Does that dialogue reach levels that would seem odd by most professional standards? Sure, but this has long been the relationship between official, player, and coach in the league. Coaches and players are going to give it to officials, and most officials are content with giving it right back.
So, Wes McCauley’s decision to assign a bench minor and game misconduct to Sheldon Keefe in a two-goal game with 1:48 remaining in the third period — with the Devils already on the penalty kill — was odd in itself. This is not something that happens every day. The context, however, turns this situation from an odd footnote in the day-to-day happenings of the league to another instance of disgraceful displays by the Royal Referee, Wes McCauley. This is what Keefe had to say about Jack Hughes’ injury post-game:
Real hard, real hard to see him go down…no update, it’s going to have to be evaluated, obviously, didn’t look good, and we’re going to have to take our time to know the full extent of it, but, yeah, it’s tough. Tough to see it, you know, especially since it’s a similar play that he got called on earlier in the period and, um, all as he got injured on the play but there’s no call and then I get kicked off the bench for telling the referee it was 10 times worse than the one that was previously called on Jack. So, without swearing, I communicated it, but uh just kind of summarize how that third period went.
For reference, see the article image for context of why Keefe was so upset. But it gets worse, and for that — we need video.
Here, the Devils are down two goals while shorthanded, on a two-on-one with Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. Hischier’s shot rebounds perfectly to Hughes at 0:09 in the video, but Eichel’s foot and skate have already tied Hughes up at this point. Even without an injury, this is a clear-as-day tripping call. But it goes uncalled, and Brenden Dillon airmails his rebound shot, and the Devils remain down two. Then, as they blow the whistle to allow Jack Hughes to get attention from the training staff, they can now see that the trip was in such a dangerous position that it led to a severe injury for Jack Hughes.
And if you watch the video, Sheldon Keefe had not even finished speaking his mind before his ejection is being announced. NHL officials seem to outright have no respect for him, as coaches around the league get much more preferable treatment by comparison. Other teams also regularly see themselves get major power plays after officials discuss dangerous plays even when they go initially uncalled. That’s what happened to Stefan Noesen, when it took officials a whole minute of discussion to call an illegal check to the head penalty on him when Tage Thompson ducked his head into Noesen’s shoulder.
There’s nothing Jack Hughes can do on that play. He had a lane to the net. He got his feet completely taken out right in front of the official. The Devils stay down two as a result, and he is probably done for the regular season, based on how that arm looked. Can the Devils get a discussion going between officials and the linesmen to see if a penalty could be called, since play was only blown dead when Vegas touched the puck? No, but they can get their coach kicked out of the game with less than two minutes remaining, and they can have their penalty killers get knocked down to three people so they get blasted by point shots from the Vegas power play for another two minutes.
That is the relationship between Sheldon Keefe and NHL officials. And that’s not even touching the long-standing rumors between McCauley and Keefe. Losing (at least, as far as I can tell,) nine straight playoff games officiating by a certain official who you have a personal history with is certainly pretty interesting.
How the Devils May Respond to Losing Jack Hughes
Personally, I was hoping that the New Jersey Devils could avoid adding a center at the Trade Deadline this year, instead using some combination of Dawson Mercer, Erik Haula, and Curtis Lazar in the bottom six. With the way NHL teams tend to price their centers mid-season, grabbing anyone worth adding to the roster would certainly necessitate something valuable going the other way.
I have little faith that Jack Hughes is going to play again in the regular season. Unless that injury just happened to look a thousand times worse than it was, the Devils will need to learn how to survive — but even a playoff appearance might not be a guarantee that Hughes or even Siegenthaler are back by the first round. That does mean that the Devils have about $11.4 million in LTIR space. They might actually have the means for a Golden Knights Playoff Run.
Is there appetite for that kind of spending, though? Is Tom Fitzgerald willing to sacrifice the draft capital or even some prospects to give his team a huge boost, starting this week? Are Josh Harris and David Blitzer alright with adding another several million to the payroll?
NHL EDGE
While I was previously not very interested in Ryan O’Reilly, I now think he can be the centerpiece for a “good” Trade Deadline. According to NHL EDGE’s tracking data, O’Reilly is still one of the best in the league at keeping the puck out of the defensive zone and in the offensive end. Without Jack pushing the puck up the ice, O’Reilly is a good enough center to give Jesper Bratt the ice he needs to work with, and he should chip in enough goals (currently on track for about 20) to work into the lineup.
With O’Reilly making $4.5 million, the Devils can then fit one or two more players if both of Hughes and Siegenthaler remain on LTIR for the regular season. The two wingers I want the Devils to pursue the most — Kyle Palmieri and Jared McCann — make $5 million each. I think it’s possible that by combining the Devils’ estimated $2.58 million in deadline cap space and current $5.127 million in LTIR pool, adding Hughes to LTIR would allow the Devils to add those three salaries (or similar numbers from different players) to the roster.
To me, though, it’s hard to be excited about where this season is going. Tom Fitzgerald might have some tricks up his sleeve to pique my interest, but a Jack injury just makes it feel like everything is about to spiral down. This team does not have the internal depth to survive a Jack Hughes injury unless playing with Timo Meier or Jesper Bratt turns Dawson Mercer into a 65-point center. Without reinforcements that can be expected to put up points, the Devils now literally need to turn to the trade market if they want to score enough goals to make the playoffs.
Your Thoughts
What did you think of Keefe’s game misconduct last night? Why do you think Wes McCauley has such a penchant for ejecting coaches? What can the Devils do about missing Jack Hughes? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, and thanks for reading.