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Dan Carcillo suspended for two games next season for abusing officials in Game 4 loss to Boston

Philadelphia Flyers v Minnesota Wild

ST PAUL, MN - SEPTEMBER 25: Dan Carcillo #13 of the Philadelphia Flyers shouts during the game against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on September 25, 2010 in St Paul, Minnesota. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

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If nothing else, Philadelphia’s Dan Carcillo sure knows how to liven things up even when his team isn’t even playing.

It feels like it was forever ago that the Philadelphia Flyers were in the playoffs but during Game 4 of the Bruins sweep of the Flyers out of the playoffs, there was an incident that caught the attention of the league.

Flyers agitator Dan Carcillo was suspended for two games next season by the NHL for a situation that developed between the first and second periods of the Bruins 5-1 Game 4 win over Philly.

Operating on the “better late than never” means of getting to work, NHL Senior VP of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy, sitting in for Colin Campbell because the incident happened against Boston, had this to say about what happened.

“Between the first and second period, while off ice and outside the officials’ locker room, Mr. Carcillo engaged in aggressive behavior and inappropriate conduct directed at the officials,” said Murphy. “While Mr. Carcillo acknowledged in the hearing that he regrets his actions outside of the officials’ room, there can be no defense for his conduct.

“I also reviewed the verbal confrontation between Carcillo and linesman Brian Murphy at the players’ bench prior to the start of the second period and have determined that, while the verbal abuse may have been worthy of a penalty, there is no evidence that Carcillo’s action merit supplemental discipline,” concluded Murphy.


The officials that night were Steve Kozari and Stephen Walkom along with linesmen Brian Murphy and Steve Miller. What’s a bit unfortunate here is that there’s no account of what happened either in print or video form as it would be fascinating to find out what, exactly, a player could do or say to get a two game ban from the league. We know that Carcillo is one of the more colorful players in the league so we can only imagine that it was on par with something like what Sean Avery might say when addressing the media about the dating habits of his rival players.

Making things a bit awkward is that Carcillo is a free agent now so whoever ends up signing him in the NHL, should that happen, will have to deal with him being suspended for two games. While we don’t know who will be in the market for an energy line semi-tough guy with a penchant for taking back-breaking penalties, we’re sure they’ll be more than invested and prepared for the hysterics that Carcillo provides on the ice anyhow.

As for how much money the suspension costs Carcillo, we’ll need to wait and see what he signs for over the summer to find out. We’re sure the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund eagerly anticipates his signing to get their first contribution of the 2011-2012 season.