Matt Dumba’s Hit on Joe Pavelski Renews Conflict Over Player Safety, Rules, and Hockey Culture in the NHL

Nearly 4 years ago this week, a hit on Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks sparked debate and controversy that sparked a rule change.  Last night, the same thing might have happened. 

On April 24th, 2019, the San Jose Sharks met the Vegas Golden Knights in game 7 of the first round of the playoffs.  With Vegas up 3-0 in the middle of the third period, a full-blown comeback seemed out of reach. However, at 9:08 of the third period, Pavelski faced off against Cody Eakin. On the draw, Eakin pushed Pavelski over, causing him to fall awkwardly and hit his head on the ice.  Pavelski lay motionless on the ice in a pool of his own blood. He was assisted off by 3 teammates and the team trainer. Eakin was assessed a 5-minute major penalty which ultimately led to the Golden Knights’ downfall. A 5-minute major penalty is not like a minor penalty. It does not end if the team with the powerplay scores, instead the player serves the whole 5 minutes in the box no matter the result. In those 5 minutes, the Sharks would score 4 goals and win the game in overtime, 5-4 eliminating the Golden Knights.

Sharks’ Joe Pavelski Bloodied As Head Hits Ice After Cody Eakin Wipes Him Out

This not only is relevant because of who the hit was on, but the circumstance. A few years ago, Eakin was assessed as a 5-minute major and there was no way to review it. After further review, the play didn’t warrant a 5-minute major penalty. It could’ve just been a 2-minute minor, but because of the way the rules were written at the time, Eakin had to sit for the full 5 minutes because there was nothing the refs could do to change the call. The league apologized to the Golden Knights for messing up the call and instituted a new rule. Now, a 5-minute major penalty can be reviewed and changed to a minor.

Pavelski would miss the entire second round of the playoffs in 2019.  He would return for the Conference finals where the Sharks would be eliminated by the St. Louis Blues.

Fast forward 4 years to April 17th, 2023, and it’s game one of the first round between Dallas and Minnesota.  Pavelski is an integral part of the Dallas Stars offense where this season he potted 28 goals, 49 assists, and 78 points at age 38.  He’s a star player and has been in this league for a long time. For Dallas to go on a deep run like many have predicted, they are going to need Pavelski to play at an elite level like he did during the regular season.  

But, it didn’t take long for there to be controversy in this game.  What started as a physical game in the first period carried over to the second period.  Then the nastiness set in.  

At 11:59 of the second period, Pavelski led a rush into the Wild’s zone.  He was being defended by forward Ryan Hartman so he dumped the puck around the net at which point defender Matt Dumba laid a crushing hit on Pavelski, whose head immediately hit the ice.  The Stars immediately came to the aid of their teammate when Max Domi dropped the gloves in defense of Pavelski.  Dumba’s hit was called a 5-minute major penalty with the intent to injure.  However, upon review Dumba’s hit was league, however hard it was.  He didn’t target Pavelski’s head (clean shoulder-to-shoulder contact) nor did he leave his feet to make this hit. Dumba did not have the intent to injure.  Even so this “clean hit” resulted in Pavelski getting helped off the ice by his teammates.

The league reviewed the play for several minutes and came to the conclusion that Dumba’s hit was a hard, but legal, hit. He has assessed a 2-minute minor penalty for roughing Max Domi for rough in the altercation that followed.  The refs and the league got the call right, and from my perspective, that’s disgusting.  

I understand that in the playoffs you need to play a physical game to win, but it doesn’t have to be dirty.  Remember how I said the hit was legal? Well according to the rules, yes it was.  Was the hit late? Also yes.  Let’s look at the play again.

Wild’s Matt Dumba Avoids Major Penalty After Review Of Huge Hit On Stars’ Joe Pavelski

Here is moments before the hit happened.  Notice how Pavelski has his head up and already dumped the puck behind the net?  He sees Dumba coming but is no longer expecting to be hit so he is in a vulnerable position.

This raises the question of how late is too late.  Because of how fast the sport of hockey is, it’s nearly impossible to assess that as a uniform rule. Instead, it must go on a case-by-case basis. Let’s look at another picture to help understand the play.

It is at this moment Pavelski dumped the puck.  If the hit happened in this frame I would be ok with it and say, that is just playoff hockey. However, Matt Dumba (#24 on Minnesota) has not yet, in my opinion, committed to the point of no return to “finish his check”. If Dumba wanted, he could’ve let up and taken a more direct path to defend the puck that didn’t involve hitting Pavelski.  That’s my issue with this hit.

The legality of the hit wasn’t even the main point of contention.  People on both sides of the argument know what Dumba did was allowed.  But the fact that the hit occurred on a defenseless player who had dumped the puck two seconds prior was the issue.    But Many fans online are split on this discussion.  On one hand, it was game one of the playoffs and that hit reminded the Stars that they need to be ready for a tough, physical battle. On the other hand, you have to ask if what Dumba did SHOULD be illegal for the safety of players.

You can’t take hitting out of hockey because it’s the way the game has been played for decades and it’s something that we as fans all love.  But provisions must be made to keep players like Pavelski, who has a history of concussions, safe.  The debate surrounding this hit, and so many like it, happen every year in the playoffs.  Just to make it clear, I agree that the hit was clean and that it should not result in a suspension or more than a minor penalty.  Hits like this spark the same debate every year that seemingly goes nowhere.  Unfortunately, the NHL won’t reevaluate their rules and nothing will change next year. My thoughts go out to Joe Pavelski on a speedy recovery.