The Daily Faceoff Show: Were Brendan Gallagher’s comments on Tim Stutzle out of line?

Scott Maxwell
Scott Maxwell(scotmaxw)
The Daily Faceoff Show: Were Brendan Gallagher’s comments on Tim Stutzle out of line?

Tuesday night saw the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators face off, and even with both teams well out of a playoff spot this season, it had its fair share of excitement and drama as the Senators won 6-3.

Part of that drama came after the game, as Canadiens right winger Brendan Gallagher had something to say about Senators left winger Tim Stutzle and how he lays on the ice.

Frank Seravalli and Matt Larkin discussed on The Daily Faceoff Show whether the comments were fair or foul.

Matt Larkin: I’m going to land on the side of foul. I think there’s a bit of theatre going on here. Brendan Gallagher knows what he’s doing, he has the stage, he’s got a good gift of the gab. The “role model” comment, I think he just pushed it a little too far. He’s taking an opportunity to embarrass Tim Stutzle in the media.

I’m not saying his comments are necessarily wrong. We have seen a tendency (from Stutzle) maybe to fall down, to flop. But there’s a penalty for that, it’s called embellishment. There can be a fine for that. You can let the officials sort that out. You don’t have to dole it out in your comments to the media.

And I think there is a bit of a stone-in-a-glass-house situation here. I was looking it up, and yes, Tim Stutzle, he’s eighth in the league in penalties drawn per 60 minutes. No. 1 is Brendan Gallagher. I’m not saying Brendan Gallagher is a flopper or a diver, but I’m just saying, you’ve got to sell a couple calls once in a while if you’re No. 1 in the league in penalties drawn.

Frank Seravalli: This is quite the clip, quite the few clips to show here of Brendan Gallagher, who is really no stranger to being on the ice at certain points of the game. Not saying that he is a flopper, or someone that embellishes, but he’s certainly in that spot more often than not, it seems.

Part of that is just a product of his play. I think everyone league-wide universally is appreciative of Brendan Gallagher and the grind that’s part of his game, but to call another player out like this, it’s not something that we see all that often. So, I agree with your take there that this is probably a little bit over the line. Maybe his emotion or the stage gets the best of him.

And also, kind of subtly too, a little part of this is a little message to referees from Brendan Gallagher, and I think that’s what we ultimately saw in the comments from Pat Maroon over the weekend as well. Just sending a subtle “Not saying, just saying” message to the NHL referees and officials.

You can watch the full video here…

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