Seattle will be without another skater headed into their upcoming home stand after having already lost Matty Beniers and Vince Dunn during their now-concluded road trip.
Friday afternoon the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced a two-game suspension for Kraken forward Yanni Gourde following a charging incident which occurred in the third period of Thursday’s game versus the Edmonton Oilers. According to the press release, “Gourde will forfeit $53,819.44” from his annual salary to the “Player’s Emergency Assistance Fund,” and miss his team’s upcoming games against the Toronto Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks.
Down 3-2 on the scoreboard and with under four minutes remaining in the game, Gourde jumped up and slammed into Ekholm, thrusting his shoulder into and making what DoPS called “significant” contact with the defenseman’s head. After the hit, Ekholm could be seen holding his face, visibly upset but seemingly unharmed.
A penalty was not immediately called given that a scrum had ensued. Referee Steve Kozari conferred with colleagues before awarding Gourde a five-minute major for boarding, and Ekholm a two-minute minor for roughing. The call could’ve been reduced to a minor penalty should intent to harm have been absent, but upon review, the major penalty was upheld and re-labelled charging. Gourde was sent off-ice.
Kraken color commentator J.T Brown noted during the broadcast following the hit that tension between Gourde and the Oilers had “started a long time back,” with Connor McDavid cross-checking Gourde after a faceoff earlier on and the two exchanging heated words. Speculation is that Gourde had been trying to drop the gloves with McDavid but the centerman never took him up on his invitation.
As defined by the official rule book, “a player who skates, jumps into, or charges an opponent” as the “result of distance traveled” may be penalized for charging. Specifically, it was the elevation of Gourde’s feet that ended up factoring into the decision, as was the fact that this is not his first run-in with the department– Gourde’s only other suspension came in 2019, for an illegal check to the head on Jordan Staal.
When prompted to divulge what he saw on the hit, Ekholm calmly told reporters he didn’t feel like he was “in a position to comment too much on what refs do,” but admitted he “didn’t love the hit.”
“I thought he [Gourde] jumped way too hard. I don’t think you should ever jump into a hit and he jumped right at my face and I was just the recipient of it more than anything.”
Overall this is an irresponsible display of physicality from Gourde, with his team already hurt so frequently by injury, and the right call from DoPS. Entering Thursday’s game, Seattle had lost 105 man games to injuries disproportionately affecting forwards. Gourde will return Jan 26 at home versus the St Louis Blues.
Eventually, Gourde may get the fight he wanted, but not in the way he expected. Sportsnet’s broadcast captured Ekholm pointing his finger at Gourde from his own seat in the penalty box, delivering a stern message.
Make of that what you will. Edmonton and Seattle won’t meet again until Saturday, March 2.
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