Binnington OUT, could be fined; No discipline for Kadri

ST. LOUIS – Jordan Binnington will miss the rest of Round 2 against the Avalanche, the St. Louis Blues announced today. The injury, suspected to be to a knee, was the result of Nazem Kadri and Calle Rosen colliding into him in the first period last night.

I’m told by my sources that Kadri will face no supplemental discipline over the incident. But, my sources say, Binnington is likely to be fined by the NHL for throwing a water bottle at Kadri while he was live on the air with TNT after the game.

Sooooooo….yeah, tomorrow night’s game here is going to be interesting. Will the Blues goon it up for physical revenge? If so, they can probably kiss goodbye their chances of winning this series, as the Avs will light ’em up on the power play and maybe put their own guys out with suspensions if they do anything horrible.

Should the Avs dress Kurtis MacDermid? Jared Bednar did say this morning that MacDermid is a possibility to play Game 4. But he also said it’s possible Jack Johnson and/or Ryan Murray play as well, in place of the injured Sam Girard, who will also miss the rest of the series with a broken sternum.

Nobody seems to want to talk about the Barbashev hit on Girard that put out one of the Avs’ better players, by the way, with a borderline dirty hit. Just like Robert Bortuzzo said today…

“You ask any player – a guy knows what he’s doing there.” – Robert Bortuzzo on the Kadri hit on Binnington

— Benjamin Hochman (@hochman) May 22, 2022

…Barbashev knew exactly what he was doing too. He hit a guy’s head into the glass from the side. Suspendable? Probably not, as it was more in the heat of the moment. But so was the Kadri/Binnington/Rosen situation. They were each going for a loose puck (after a juicy rebound given by Binner) and stuff happens.

See what the Blues have to say about losing Jordan Binnington for the series and the play where it happened. #stlblues pic.twitter.com/1BBS4reBUM

— St. Louis Blues (@StLouisBlues) May 22, 2022

Bortuzzo did add, as the clip above shows, “Having said that, we’re not going to misplace any of our energy moving forward here. We’re just trying to win the series.”

Craig Berube said, “We’ve moved on from it. I really don’t want to talk about it anymore. Because, it doesn’t do anything to talk about it anymore. We’ve got to get focused for tomorrow’s game.”

Brayden Schenn, asked if Kadri hit dirty: "He said he got pushed. He's behind our guy. So I don't know how that makes sense but…"

— Adrian Dater (@adater) May 22, 2022

Listen, we can’t, as Avs watchers, expect the Blues to just be like, “Oh, no problem, it was all clean and fine and dandy and it’s no problem at all with Kadri.” 

If Darcy Kuemper were injured on the same play, with someone like Schenn plowing into him, we’d all be screaming bloody murder too. But, I think the Blues privately know this was not a premeditated act by Kadri. They know. But they also have to say things that show they’re upset and appease their fans, too.

Lots of goalies get run into on loose pucks, just like what happened with Binnington. It just so happens, this time, that he had a knee injury come out of it as a result. It’s hockey, it happens.

Nazem Kadri to TNT: "I mean, not much I can do man, not much I can do. I'm just going for a loose puck."

— Adrian Dater (@adater) May 22, 2022

For me, this angle shows what really happened: the rebound comes out of glove, Kadri, going for loose puck, collides into Rosen, Rosen then makes first contact with Binnington, then forward momentum carries both more into Binnington https://t.co/9oDus2IZGI

— Adrian Dater (@adater) May 22, 2022