NHL Player Safety head George Parros: Whitecloud hit on Knies legal, ‘approached through center of body’

The NHL Department of Player Safety has provided more context behind the decision not to suspend Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud for his hit on Toronto Maple Leafs left winger Matthew Knies.

NHL Head of Player Safety George Parros joins #NHLonPrime to talk Rule 48 and illegal hits to the head. ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/v2aJGt5Zix

— Sports on Prime Canada (@SportsOnPrimeCA) November 22, 2024

The play in question occurred during Wednesday night’s game, with Whitecloud laying a big hit on Knies midway through the second period, injuring Knies. The play was initially assessed a major penalty, but it was rescinded after a review, and the Department of Player Safety elected not to give the defenseman supplemental discipline.

The decision proved to be controversial, as many hockey fans, particularly those of the Maple Leafs, felt Whitecloud’s hit was to the head. In response, the Department of Player Safety released a video on Thursday explaining their reasoning, along with the departments’ head George Parros joining NHL on Prime to answer more questions on the decision.

“We looked for the main point of contact, which was mainly delivered to the head,” said Parros on NHL on Prime. “We try to take a look at the approach to the player, where that contact landed, and make our evaluation as best we can.”

“Whitecloud approaches squarely through the front of the body on Matthew Knies, his position being tilted forward slightly,” said Parros. “There is head contact, no one’s denying that. We don’t like to see it, and it’s unfortunate that [Knies] had to leave the game under these circumstances. We do feel that Zach approached his hit through the center of the body and made contact to the body as well as the head there.”

Parros also used the hit by Leafs winger Ryan Reaves on Edmonton Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse on Saturday as a comparison to why one play was suspended and one was not.

“We felt as though the head was clearly the main point of contact [on the Reaves hit],” said Parros. “Ryan unfortunately had a bad angle and bad timing and swept in front of the body, missing the body completely there. We felt we had to act on that one and really that’s the main difference between the two, just the amount of head contact, main or not main.”

Reaves was given a five-game suspension for the hit.

“Once we determined that this was a hit worthy of suspension, then we dig into ‘Was there an injury to take into consideration? Was there a history?'” said Parros. “Unfortunately Ryan had some history there as well, so we ended up giving him the gate for five games.”

Parros also addressed the criticism that Whitecloud may have left his feet on the hit, or at the very least pushed up in his trajectory of the hit.

“I would agree that there is some element of elevation here. You can see Zach delivering this hit and coming up into the hit,” said Parros. “However, we also acknowledge that when delivering hits, players do move up from the skates, they do transfer body weight and come up into hits. And although this did happen here, and it’s unfortunate, certainly with the head contact involved, we didn’t feel, as to an excessive degree, that we felt discipline would be required for charging infractions.”