Why Hurricanes’ Chatfield won’t be disciplined for  ‘WWE throwdown’ of Capitals’ McMichael 

Carolina Hurricanes defenseman Jalen Chatfield won’t face any supplemental discipline after his WWE-style takedown in a fight against Washington Capitals center Connor McMichael on Wednesday night. 

Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli was the first to report the news.

Amid an intense third period, Chatfield grabbed several points on McMichael’s jersey before swinging him around and slamming him to the ice without a helmet. It all came in a seven-minute spell that saw 120 penalty minutes in an eventual 5-1 win for the Hurricanes.

Jalen Chatfield with the 3-point TAKEDOWN of McMichael 🤼‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/bVKCoXXDXs

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) April 3, 2025

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli discussed the fight and whether the NHL should address Chatfield’s tactics.

Yaremchuk: Let’s start with the story that has everyone buzzing. No supplemental discipline for Jalen Chatfield following his takedown during the fight with Connor McMichael. Why no supplemental discipline, and do you agree?

Seravalli: No supplemental discipline because technically, nothing illegal happened here. There’s no rule in the rule book that says you can’t wrestle a guy to the ice. 

Now, I look at these still photos here, and we see these posted from the Spittin’ Chiclets account. I don’t love the look of them because it clearly looks like Jalen Chatfield is trying to essentially dwarf toss Connor McMichael, and it is a UFC-style WWE throwdown, and I think it’s incredibly dangerous. 

Personally, I would find a way to apply a one-game suspension to send a message to the rest of the NHL that if you fight, you can’t do this. You can’t take down a player in this manner. 

However, there’s nothing in the rule book, and I think maybe, in the end, I should defer to George Parros, who’s been in dozens of NHL fights—and I’ve been in exactly zero—to understand some of the other nuances that come with it, with regards to leverage, spinning around, trying to get position on someone, all those different things that go into a fight that I really can’t articulate.

You can catch the segment and full episode below…