Drawing blood and double minors

I was always under the impression that drawing blood on a penalized play was an automatic upgrade of the penalty to double minor or a major. From the Leafs/Bruins game it obviously wasn't called that way and many people say that it's only the case on a high sticking call. So I decided to do some digging to see what the rules are with respect to upgrading penalties. I'm looking at the rules and the game in conjunction. (I also posted to r/hockey)

So first is the high sticking rule which we can think of as our gold standard for blood upgrading the penalty. Basically the rules are blood/injury = 4 minutes and intent = match penalty. Note that the way the rule is worded and enforced tells us fairly clearly that in the context of an upgraded penalty that bleeding signifies an injury.

60.3 Double-minor Penalty - When a player carries or holds any part of his stick above the shoulders of the opponent so that injury results, the Referee shall assess a double-minor penalty for all contact that causes an injury, whether accidental or careless, in the opinion of the Referee.

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60.4 Match Penalty – When, in the opinion of the Referee, a player attempts to or deliberately injures an opponent while carrying or holding any part of his stick above the shoulders of the opponent, the Referee shall assess a match penalty to the offending player.

Now we'll look at the charging rules. We have the same wording for injury as the high stick rule so it's logical that drawing blood qualifies as injury. Rule 42.4 has the additional qualifier of intent, but I fail to see how most charging penalties resulting in injury didn't have that intent. It's unclear if Pastrnak didn't deliberately injure Muzzin on the play, considering drawing blood qualifies. I would definitely lean towards intentional and the match penalty for that hit under the rules.

42.3 Major Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a major penalty, based on the degree of violence of the check, to a player guilty of charging an opponent (see 42.5).

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42.4 Match Penalty – The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a match penalty if, in his judgment, the player attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent by charging.

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42.5 Game Misconduct Penalty - When a major penalty is imposed under this rule for a foul resulting in an injury to the face or head of an opponent, a game misconduct shall be imposed.

Next I want to look at elbowing, prompted by the Debrusk elbow on Dermott. For elbowing resulting in injury on the play it is an automatic major, game misconduct and fine. If there was intent then it's upgraded to a match penalty if the injuring elbow was intentional. There was no call on this play. If this play is called properly it keeps a lot of the game in check.

45.3 Major Penalty - A major penalty, at the discretion of the Referee, shall be imposed on any player who uses his elbow to foul an opponent. A major penalty must be imposed under this rule for a foul resulting in an injury to the face or head of an opponent (see 45.5).

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45.4 Match Penalty - The Referee, at his discretion, may assess a match penalty if, in his judgment, the player attempted to or deliberately injured his opponent by elbowing.

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45.5 Game Misconduct Penalty - When a major penalty is imposed under this rule for a foul resulting in an injury to the face or head of an opponent, a game misconduct penalty shall also be imposed.

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45.6 Fines and Suspensions – Refer to Rule 23.6 – Fines and Suspensions – Physical Fouls Category. When a major penalty and a game misconduct is assessed for a foul resulting in an injury to the face or head of an opponent, an automatic fine of one hundred dollars ($100) shall be imposed. If deemed appropriate, supplementary discipline can be applied by the Commissioner at his discretion (refer to Rule 28).

I was prompted by how drawing blood impacts a call and thus didn't look at any of the Leafs players infractions, of which there were many. I'm not trying to weigh in on that debate but dissect the rules and how they were enforced. My understanding is the refs did a shit on these plays.

Posted Apr 14, 2019, 8:57 AM UTC

196
SilenceIX•

I see you’ve posted a long list of rules. I’m going to not bother to read them, thus qualifying me to be an NHL official.

38
chewee123•

NHL Interviewer: “So, do you know any of the rules of the NHL?”

Interviewee: “Not really.”

NHL Interviewer: “Perfect! You start Monday. The Leafs are playing the Bruins, and I need you to make sure you make the correct calls, ok?”

Interviewee: “Thanks sir, I’ll do my best!”

9
geturteez•

I also thought the charge and the elbow should have been a suspension worthy calls or at minimum a major.

9
MooseKingdom•

I didn't see the elbow until the reply. Not really surprised it didn't get called at that point in the game. Now the the rest of the game went off the rails, i bet the league goes looking to send a message and this is an easy target for a game suspension

3
micatola•

The fact that they aren't looking at any of the things Debrusk did to lead up to the Kadri retaliation is all you need to know. Bruins play by a different set of rules. The league want us to know this. They aren't subtle about it. We have to overcome that to have any success against Boston. It won't be easy and hopefully none of our guys get hurt in the process.

3
StaticR0ute•

Refs should be held accountable for doing a shitty job. It’s so fucking dumb that no can even question their calls/non-calls without being fined.

1