Early Trading: McDavid won't fight three-game suspension

Gino Reda is joined by TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston to discuss whether there will be conversations around the leadup to Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid’s suspension and the trade speculation surrounding Vancouver Canucks forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson.

Gino Reda: Is Connor McDavid getting shafted? To be clear I’m not asking if McDavid deserved his three-game suspension for his cross-check to Conor Garland’s face, we’ve debated that to death.

No, we’re bringing in TSN Hockey Insider Chris Johnston for a look at the bigger picture. To that in a moment C.J., but first some news to share.

Chris Johnston: Connor McDavid will not be launching an appeal of the Department of Player Safety’s decision of the three-game suspension. It’s not because he necessarily agrees with the ruling.

I can tell you there’s a fair amount of disappointment around the Edmonton Oilers and those who are close to McDavid about where the Department of Player Safety went with this. But there’s also a sense that the appeal process isn’t set up to have success for players.

The way it works is if a player wants to appear a three-game suspension, it goes to commissioner Gary Bettman and, historically, that has not seen many suspensions reduced over time.

So, McDavid will take his medicine here. He’ll serve those three games and return to the Oilers’ lineup next week.

Reda: Alright C.J., let’s get to the bigger picture now. McDavid is being held accountable for his actions. But is it time to take a closer look at the lack of accountability on what he goes through on a regular basis?

Johnston: Well, I certainly think that’s at least a discussion point that should be had around this. As you mentioned, it’s not to excuse him for the use of his stick there. We’ve seen other star players like [Toronto Maple Leafs captain] Auston Matthews suspended in the past for cross-checking infractions.

But nothing happens in isolation. If you look across McDavid’s career and his per minute penalties drawn, according to Natural Stat Trick, this season he has drawn the fewest penalties per minute played during his entire NHL career.

You can understand the frustration in that moment. Garland was tied up with him for quite some time while the Oilers were trying to tie up that game last Saturday night. Even Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch pointed out that of course he’s going to have a reaction there.

To spin the conversation in a different direction, not to excuse the way McDavid chose to react to that situation, it’s quite clear that the Oilers’ captain is not getting as many penalty calls as he had historically.

We heard him in the past just say to the referees that we just want you to call the rule book. I wonder if, as we move forward from this, if that’s one of the takeaways that the league takes to heart.

Reda: Let’s go to the trade front now and it sounds like a deal to move J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers was so close that the Vancouver Canucks almost sat Miller against the Oilers on Saturday night, but it fell through.

So, where are we now on that front?

Johnston: Just because that trade didn’t reach fruition on the weekend, talks do continue. They’re currently happening with more than just the Rangers.

The Rangers’ interest in Miller goes back months now, so I would expect them to continue at this, maybe after things cool off a bit after their attempt to get it done over the weekend.

But the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes are among those who still have interest in Miller. They want to continue active communication with the Canucks to see if something can get done. Both of those teams do satisfy what is believed to be an important condition for Miller, they are based in the eastern part of the U.S.

Miller does have a full no-movement clause, so while the Canucks haven’t brought him anything, the team understands that those are the kind of places he would like to play if the Canucks want to move him.

I won’t offer predictions on this new set of talks because there has been a lot of twists and turns in this discussion on Miller and prior to that Elias Pettersson with the Canucks.

Certainly, the feeling is teams are trying to work with Vancouver to try and get something done with Miller.

Reda: You mentioned Elias Pettersson and I want to follow up on that. When all this conversation about somebody having to move from Vancouver, it was Miller and/or Pettersson both being moved out.

Now all the talk that we’re hearing seems to be surrounding Miller. Does that mean the Canucks are less interested in moving Pettersson or are those talks just quieter?

Johnston: I would characterize it as less likely at this point, but I don’t think anything can be ruled out, given the degree of conversations that have been had on these two files.

The focus does seem to be primarily on Miller, who is an older player, but the Canucks could pivot back to Pettersson if they can’t get something done with Miller.

It’s a dangerous game to guess where this is going because it has been so public. It’s really been an unusual type of situation.

It seems as though things have quieted down on Pettersson. It seems as though he wants to stay in Vancouver, and he has own no-movement clause that kicks in on July 1.

So, I think Miller is more likely of the two to be moved at this point but stay tuned because until something happens nothing has happened.

Reda: Alright that’s all the latest news as we have it right now. The full version of Insider Trading with C.J and Pierre LeBrun is coming up on the early edition of SportsCentre.