This afternoon’s game against the New Jersey Devils has been an interesting one if nothing else. There have been some nice goals, cancelled out goals, crazy saves, exaggerated post-fight celebrations, and everything in between. But at the midway point of the third period, Adam Larsson decided that he wanted to send a message more than he wanted to play the puck.

While at first it looks like an elbow, a slowed down look shows that Larsson leads with the shoulder. It’s hard to tell if he makes primary contact with McCann’s body or his head, which snaps back almost immediately. Larsson’s elbow eventually follows through, but that could just be natural motion.

Larsson was given a five-minute penalty and a game misconduct for interference, which is the safest call to give here. McCann loses the puck before Larsson even makes eye contact with him, and rather than trying to regain possession, Larsson decides that he wants to go for the highlight reel collision instead.

There could be an argument that this is a suspendable offence. Even if one decides that it’s a shoulder hit on the body, it couldn’t be more obvious that it was far from a legitimate hockey attempt and came despite the flow of the play, rather than in response to it. You can make the argument that such a hit is an attempt to injure, or settle for one of the most extreme examples of interference that we’ve seen of late.

McCann initially headed to the dressing room after this hit. This was cause for concern, seeing as the 19-year-old is just three months removed from a concussion suffered in the World Junior Showcase in August. Even more concerning? He came back just four minutes later, to join his team on the powerplay. 

Now, that might not be a huge deal. McCann’s head doesn’t make contact with the ice when he goes down, and when he came back, he gestured to his teammates that he was just winded. On the other hand, even if nothing was evident, I would be taking whatever precautions I could with a teenaged roookie that has a history, even if it meant keeping him in the quiet room for a few more minutes.

Alas, he hopped on the ice, and the Canucks didn’t score on the powerplay. Vancouver and New Jersey are tied at three after regulation.