From Ineligible To Suspended?

I'll be honest when I say that I didn't think that Niko Mikkola, pictured to the left, was a player who deserved an eight-year contract. Normally, you see players who are extremely valuable signed to contracts of that length, but the Florida Panthers apparently see him as that type of player on their team after they agreed to terms on an eight-year, $40 million deal on Thursday. However, that's not what I'm here to discuss, though, because Niko Mikkola might be getting a call from the NHL about his involvement and being excused against the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. If he's not suspended, I'm not sure why the NHL even has a rulebook.

As Florida was laying a beating on Tampa Bay tonight, frustrations grew between the two in-state rivals. Penalties started to turn uglier, skirmishes began to result in fights, and the referees began dismissing players from the game. There's nothing overly surprising about any of that description other than the 7-0 final score that Florida recorded, but the third period saw something that I can't recall ever happening.

At 4:01 of the third period, one of the many skirmishes seen in this game erupted. Oliver Bjorkstrand was given a match penalty before Mackie Samoskevich and Max Crozier were tossed from the game for fighting, and both Connor Geekie and Niko Mikkola were both given game misconducts for their parts in the brouhaha. As I said above, the referees were simply trying to maintain some sort of order in this game that got out of hand, so these misconducts shouldn't surprise anyone at this point with the clearly lopsided score in favour of Florida.

What did suprise everyone, though, was Florida's eighth goal when Jesper Boqvist scored at 8:52 with an assist going to Niko Mikkola - the same Niko Mikkola who had been assessed a game misconduct nearly five minutes earlier. Apparently. no one noticed that Florida's #77 should have been in the locker room and not on the bench or ice until 14:55, a full six minutes after Boqvist's goal and more than ten minutes after he had been excused from the game!

I'm not sure who caught the error, but one has to think the official scorers would have noticed as they were documenting all the penalties and the scoring plays. Again, I can't speak for what was happening behind the scenes, but allowing 10:54 to elapse where a player removed from the game assists on a goal scored is a huge error on the officials' parts. That simply can't happen in any hockey game at any level, so we'll see what the NHL does when they review this.

Here is how the Boqvist goal involving Mikkola was eliminated.

It seems the officials got it right, albeit ten minutes too late, when they removed the goal from Florida's total after discovering that Mikkola had been on the ice after he was tossed from the game as per Rule 5-2. And I am quite sure the Commissioner and a number of other league officials will be reading the officials' reports on how this whole ordeal unfolded. Again, I expect the NHL to be busy on Monday when it comes to calling the front offices of both the Panthers and Lightning over the total violence exhibited along with this matter.

Where there may be more concern is what becomes of Mikkola.

Rule 70-10 clearly states that Mikkola should be suspended for ten regular season games for returning to the bench and ice after being assessed a game misconduct. I'm not sure how the NHL will handle this due to this game being a preseason contest, but that shouldn't matter in the grand scope of what Mikkola did. He broke a clear rule, and he should start the season in the pressbox for the first ten games. If the NHL doesn't enforce this, why have the rule at all?

Look, I understand that this game was chaos. The Panthers and Lightning clearly have an intense rivalry with one another, and the work done by referees Michael Markovic and Jean Hebert and linesmen Jonny Murray and Jonathan Deschamps isn't in question here. You cna make the case that someone should have noticed that Mikkola was still on the bench and taking regular shifts, but it's also on the Panthers to ensure they have the right personnel on the bench at all times. If there was any uncertainty, head coach Paul Maurice should have waved an official over and asked more questions.

As it stands, Niko Mikkola should be suspended for ten games to start the season. There is absolutely no way that he can be allowed to avoid punishment for breaking Rule 70-10 despite him avoiding further penalties, but this is one of those moments where the rulebook is clear. Does it suck for Mikkola? It absolutely does, but this entire debacle over an ineligible player could have been avoided had the Panthers simply asked for clarification. They did not, though, so Mikkola should suspended for breaking a clearly-defined rule.

You don't have to like the rule, but rules are made to avoid chaos and there was enough chaos tonight between the Panthers and Lightning.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!