When the San Jose Sharks recalled Micheal Haley from the American Hockey League Thursday morning, pretty much everyone knew why.
With the Edmonton Oilers in town, the Sharks were playing their Pacific Division foes for the first time since Oilers rookie Darnell Nurse bloodied Roman Polak in a fight that Polak had no interest in two weeks ago. Nurse was suspended three games for being an aggressor in the altercation against an unwilling opponent. It was an absolutely brutal decision by Nurse and he was punished accordingly. However, Nurse's suspension apparently did not satisfy the Sharks.
Haley has only played in 10 games with the Sharks this year and has 66 NHL games under his belt. Over that span he has just four points and 205 penalty minutes. Though no one would ever come out and say it, it was pretty clear he was recalled to take care of the nasty business of “sending a message” to Nurse and the Oilers.
Probably upon seeing Haley would be in the lineup, the Oilers dressed their own tough guy, Luke Gazdic. Prior to Thursday, Gazdic hadn’t played since Jan. 18 and has appeared in just 28 games total for the Oilers. Fight fire with fire, right?
Haley only had eyes for Nurse, though. It only took about three minutes of elapsed clock time for Haley to get Nurse to drop the gloves.
Nurse got off to a bad start there and took a couple of really good knocks from Haley.
And wouldn’t you know it? Just 36 seconds after that fight, the Sharks opened the scoring. The goal scorer: Roman Polak. It was his first goal in a Sharks uniform since being traded over from the Toronto Maple Leafs earlier this season.
Polak actually ended up hurting the Oilers more than Haley did.
This is one of those instances where the players want to be the ones to hold each other accountable. I get that the Sharks want to have someone stick up for their teammate, but that game was two weeks ago. And yes, it was an awful play from Nurse, but the league already took care of it. Meanwhile, the Oilers are not a threat the remainder of the season as they sit last in the Western Conference and the Sharks still have a realistic shot at securing home ice in the first round of the playoffs. A win against Edmonton clinches a playoff spot.
Oilers color commentator Drew Remenda, who is a former Sharks assistant coach and was previously a longtime TV analyst for the team expressed his disappointment in the organization he spent so much time with.
"I don't care what anybody says, I know what the game's all about," Remenda said after the combatants made their way to the penalty box. "But when you call up a guy from the minor leagues to fight a 21-year-old kid, I think you've got to reexamine your values."
Even though it was the Sharks that decided not to renew Remenda's contract two years ago possibly leaving some hard feelings, I'm inclined to agree with him.
Calling up a guy to take a roster spot basically just to fight a rookie who was already punished by the league after an admittedly brutal incident is not a great look for the organization. Aren’t there more important things to be focusing on this time of year?
