There will be no punishment for the Coyotes players who criticized the officiating following the team's season-ending loss to the Kings in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals.
After initially saying the league would look into the Coyotes' "unacceptable" actions, NHL vice president Colin Campbell told ESPN on Wednesday that after speaking with Shane Doan, Martin Hanzal, Keith Yandle and Mike Smith, he decided that no supplemental discipline was warranted.
The Kings' game-winning goal in overtime of Game 5 came just 13 seconds after a controversial knee-on-knee hit by Dustin Brown that knocked Coyotes defenseman Michal Rozsival out of the game.
After the goal, Hanzal skated up to one of the officials and made a gesture, while Smith threw his stick in the direction of the officials.
"I told Hanzal, 'The way you went at the official after the game physically, you didn't make contact, but that was disrespectful. You're lucky you weren't suspended by the official for doing something like that. Even though you didn't make contact, I thought it was a threatening nature,'" Campbell told ESPN.
Yandle made perhaps the most critical comments, saying that the questionable officiating was no coincidence given that the Kings and the officials were wearing the same uniform colors and that the Coyotes' lack of an owner played a role.
Campbell disputed that notion.
"I said to Yandle, 'I thought your comment about who was wearing what color was wrong. That's the integrity of the game, and you're suggesting that because you didn't have an owner that you have no support?' I said, 'Not a chance.'"
Doan's comments were similar but less conspiracy-driven, specifically questioning the three penalties called on him over the final two games of the series and citing several missed calls, from a puck cleared over the glass that should have resulted in a delay-of-game penalty on the Kings in the third period to Brown's hit on Rozsival. Of the Brown hit, Doan repeatedly said, "How do you miss that?"
The Coyotes' captain apologized in the days following the loss and also did so to Campbell during their meeting, according to ESPN.
"I said to Doan, 'Your comments after the game were not totally correct about the officiating and what you thought," Campbell said.
The league could have fined each player up to $2,500, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement.
