In professional sports, sometimes a first-year player wants to do a little too much to impress his teammates and coaches, and in that regard, the resilient Martin Pospisil will have his bad deeds to bear witness to.
The Calgary Flames forward risked a high price for an illegal hit on Seattle Kraken defenseman Vince Dunn late in the third period. By striking along the boards behind his opponent, he jeopardized the chances of a comeback for his team, which lost 4-2 as his big penalty cost the Flames' offense five valuable minutes. Then his problems will continue, because this kind of gesture is likely to get him banned: he will speak to the National League's player safety department about it on Wednesday.
After being chased out of the match, Pospisil had also fueled the Kraken's anger early in the confrontation by decisively attacking Adam Larsson; The contact caught the attention of Tye Kartye, who later responded to the attacker by engaging in a fight with him. However, the Flames rookie refused to fight.
When asked by journalists about the Slovakian's evening of work, Seattle head coach Dave Hakstol was anything but impressed by the entire work.
“I think there were two unfortunate setbacks,” he said, as reported by the Calgary Herald newspaper. It was shit. The second was not so different from the first, which took place in the first few seconds. If you behave like this, you will probably have to answer to someone standing in front of you, and that didn't happen. I will put everything in the hands of the league.
We're walking on eggshells…
As for Flames pilot Ryan Huska, the topic remained sensitive. He obviously relied on diplomacy and at the same time refrained from publicly blaming his protégé. However, he admits that Pospisil has its hands full in the National Hockey League.
“I don't know. We have equipment for video reviews. “Right now I haven't watched the footage yet,” the instructor said. It's part of the experience. The more he plays, the more he'll understand. And he will .This is an important step. […] He learns in his own way. I think that’s all we can say for now.”
“For most of the season he was on the right side of his game. He did a good job, he gives the team a lot physically. He makes sure he’s ready to play.”
In 2023-2024, Pospisil totaled 72 penalty minutes in 45 games.