Prior to today, the NHL had handed out just three suspensions during the 2025-26 regular season. That number jumped up to five today, thanks to a couple of sucker punches on Saturday. The first was by Calgary Flame John Beecher on Nashville Predator Michael McCarron. The second, and the purpose of this article, was by Winnipeg Jets defenseman Logan Stanley on Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. Both Beecher and Stanley received one game. Let’s dive into the details of the Stanley sucker punch.
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Details of the Incident
Partway through the second period, with the Senators up 2-1 on the Jets, Tkachuk hit Stanley in front of the Senators bench. The play continued with Dylan Cozens ending up with a great chance that was stopped by Connor Hellebuyck. Behind the play, though, Stanley and Tkachuk continued to scuffle. Tkachuk’s helmet ended up off his head, which is when a linesman jumped in between the two big men. That’s when Stanley quickly shook off his gloves and proceeded to pop Tkachuk in the face with a hard right. If you look closely, Tkachuk seemed to be watching the play that continued up the ice.
Call on the Ice
The refs might have missed this call. The punch was deemed two minutes for roughing. Stanley received an additional two minutes for removing Tkachuk’s helmet. Tkachuk, meanwhile, received a ten minute misconduct for the aftermath where he was visibly livid, as one might be after taking a punch like that.
It wasn’t all bad for the Senators. Drake Batherson scored the eventual game winning goal on the ensuing power play. With an assist on the goal, Tim Stützle extended his point streak to 12 games.
Thoughts on the Suspension
Inevitably, some will praise the punch since it was directed at Brady Tkachuk of the infamous Tkachuk family. There will always be people that have a hard time understanding why this would be suspension worthy when plenty of other questionable incidents have gone unsuspended by the Department of Player Safety.
Let’s take away any hatred of Brady Tkachuk and look at this incident without bias. Player A did not drop his gloves. Player A did not agree to fight. A linesman was in between Player A and Player B. Player B then made the choice to drop his gloves and deliver a punch right to the face of Player A. This is an obvious sucker punch. Otherwise, players in any scrum could do this and think that it’s a simple two minute penalty for roughing.
Other questionable plays, like an elbow or high hit can be tougher to judge. Those are often bang-bang plays where the speed of the game can make them tougher to judge. In this case, there’s no question about it. Logan Stanley lost his cool and delivered a cheap shot on Brady Tkachuk. The one game suspension makes sense.
