Early Trading: Could any supplemental discipline carry over into playoffs for Nurse?

Supplemental discipline on the way for Nurse after Monday's game?

GINO REDA: Things got really chippy between the Oilers and Kings in Edmonton last night. A lot of bad blood between these two teams that are set to meet in the playoffs for the fourth straight season.

It got really ugly when Darnell Nurse cross-checked Quenton Byfield in the back of the head while he was on the ice, so now what? Here’s our hockey Insider Darren Dreger.

Dregs, Nurse has a hearing with the league later today. What are you hearing about that hearing?

DARREN DREGER: Well, I’d be surprised if there wasn’t supplemental discipline applied. Now, do I think this is going to drift into the Stanley Cup playoffs, Gino? No, and that’s a firm no.

I think, worst-case scenario for Darnell Nurse, maybe best-case scenario for Darnell Nurse with only one game remaining for the Edmonton Oilers, is that he gets a one-game suspension.

I feel like even though it was borderline ugly, it’s more about the optics of how this play unfolded and how it got to that point. You’re talking about a 4-0 hockey game. The Edmonton Oilers were essentially out of it, I think that’s pretty clear. And you do look forward to a seven-game series in the opening round between the Los Angeles Kings and the Oilers, and you wonder if there’s some form of message sending that could be delivered to the Oilers to the Kings by parking Darnell Nurse for at least one game.

I’d expect a one-game suspension, but it could be as little as a fine, as well.

What happened in the shootout between the Habs and Blackhakws?

REDA: Hey, a hugely eventful night at the Bell Centre last night, as well. An incredible debut by Habs prospect, sensation Ivan Demidov, and something we’ve never, ever seen before.

To set the stage, the Habs are a point away from clinching a playoff spot when they go to the shootout with the Chicago Blackhawks.

[Frank] Nazar shoots for the Hawks, he knows the puck went in the net, but no one else in the building knows it’s in the net. So now, [Patrik] Laine shoots, he gets stopped, and the Hawks say, “Wait a minute, that puck was in the net!”, and everything gets turned around.

Dregs, walk us through how this all happened.

DREGER: Well, it was a sequence of events, no doubt about that. Obviously, there were some mistakes that were made along the way, and perhaps the process was handled a little too hastily in terms of allowing Patrik Laine to take the shot.

Now, normally what happens here, if there’s any level of uncertainty, the Situation Room in Toronto, as we know Gino, is always actively involved. So what happens inside that room, puck goes into the net, the gentleman who’s monitoring that game says, “Yes, that’s a goal,” “No, it isn’t a goal,” or something as simple as, “Goal in Montreal.” Everybody puts eyes on it.

That’s what happened on Monday night and they determined that, in fact, yeah, it was a good goal. So then the messaging goes to the off-ice officials, and hopefully, to the on-ice officials who are managing this game, off-ice officials being in the penalty box. You’ve got the goal judge who’s also part of the process.

Well, the message that this was a good goal obviously didn’t get to the linesmen, who by the way, came back to the penalty box to grab a new puck because they didn’t know where the puck was! Well, it was lodged in the net, but there wasn’t an indication from [Samuel] Montembeault. In fact, the indication was that he thought that the puck was out of play.

So again, a sequence of events, mistakes were made. But you have no choice other than to move on. Take it a bit on the chin, here.

All aspects from the on-ice officials to the in-arena, off-ice officials, to those involved in the Situation Room. The message just didn’t get delivered in an appropriate amount of time.

REDA: But Dregs, what if they actually called it a goal, called it correctly, and the Hawks went up 1-0 in the shootout?

Just before the shootout started, it kind of looked like Marty St. Louis went up to Demidov and said, “You’re No. 4”, so we’re all anticipating, hey, if it’s still tied after three, Demidov gets a poke at it.

Do you think St. Louis would have handled it differently if that goal had been called a goal?

DREGER: Well, I’m told he would have handled it differently. Now, that’s not direct from Marty St. Louis, but that’s what I’m told was, at least, part of the argument from the management of the Montreal Canadiens last night and likely into today, as well.

There are some coaching decisions that have to factor in, and in full fairness and disclosure here, Gino, I don’t know about you, I’ve never done a full poll of the 32 NHL head coaches to ask, if in fact, if they have their lineup card established prior to the start of the shootout.

But in this case, I’m told, that Montreal likely would have gone with Nick Suzuki had they known that that was a good goal. Maybe Patrik Laine doesn’t like the heat of the moment, the pressure of the moment.

But they, I’m told, would have made a different decision in terms of that lineup had they known that Chicago had, in fact, scored at that time.

How does the arrival of Demidov affect Canadiens' plans going forward?

REDA: There was so much hype going into the game surrounding Demidov, some have actually started calling him “Demigod.” A goal and an assist last night in his first NHL game. Habs fans are dying to see what he could do in the playoffs, but how about looking forward, Dregs?

How do you think this kid affects the Habs’ off-season plans?

DREGER: A fabulous debut, there’s no other way to describe that. I think most of us expected that the moment would be a big one, and maybe a little but overwhelming, especially in that building in Montreal.

I mean, the roof came off when he got the assist and the almost blew right off entirely when he scored the follow-up goal. He did not shrink in the moment, so that shows promise, but there’s a ton of hockey ahead.

First of all, the Montreal Canadiens, Gino, obviously have to lock down that playoff spot and then the temperature rises after that. So, let’s watch the teenager and see how he embraces his opportunity in the short time before you get to that off-season.

Or maybe not. Maybe they find lightning in a bottle and away they go in Montreal. But it sells hope. If you’re an unrestricted free agent, if you’re a player that maybe has trade protection and you’re looking at the Montreal Canadiens as an off-season option, all of a sudden, now you see the promise of this injection of raw offence which you get in Demidov. Maybe that’s part of the selling package of Kent Hughes.

I know this, Gino, the Montreal Canadiens know they’re a good team. They also know they’re not quite ready to be a contending team, but the fact that they’ve had this level of success, and now they’ve got Demidov into the mix, I think that pushes some buttons.

They’re going to be in the market for additional top-six talent, either through free agency or via the draft or a trade. Ivan Demidov could be part of that sales presentation.

REDA: Habs fans are pretty excited about where they’re headed.

What is being discussed on annual pre-playoff call?

Look, just three nights left in the regular season, the pre-playoff calls between the league, GMs, and coaches is scheduled for later this week. Dregs, what do you think the message is going to be in that call?

DREGER: It’ll be standard stuff, right? The commissioners’ office always says, “Look, let’s just apply the standard, please. The same standard that we see in the regular season has to be used in the Stanley Cup playoffs.”

He does not want to hear the chirping from the media and the fanbase to say, “Where is the standard?” So that has to be the code going into the playoffs, but that’s on a year-in and year-out basis.

I think what you’d hear from hockey operations, or maybe from Stephen Walkom, the director of officiating is, “Look fellas, we’re going to do our level best to make sure that the penalty that we’re calling is, in fact, a penalty. A non-call is better than a soft call.”

That could be part of the presentation to the coaches and the general managers. There will also be a code of conduct reference that, hey, we understand how high the pressure is, the stress that everybody is feeling, but let’s just try and keep it on the straight and narrow, and make sure that as a coaching staff on the bench, you don’t kind of collapse in the moment and turn in it into a debacle. There will be some of that delivered, as well.

REDA: Dregs, I like this. A lot of fun conversation in the early Insider Trading.

You’ve got the full version of IT with C.J. coming up on the early edition of SportsCentre.