Hurricanes' Jalen Chatfield Unlikely To Face Discipline For Wild Judo Takedown

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Things got completely out of hand at Raleigh's Leonovo Center on Wednesday when the two top teams in the NHL's Metropolitan Division — the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes — squared off in what could prove to be a match-up in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

For fans of the rough stuff, there was plenty of it in the Canes' 5-1 win, but the moment that got everyone talking was Hurricanes D-man Jalen Chatfield and the Judo-like takedown he employed during a fight with Washington's Connor McMichael.

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Well, that's not something you see every day.

That was obviously super dangerous, especially when you consider that McMichael's helmet was off at the time.

I thought this seemed like a slam-dunk suspension based on the fact that it was essentially a slew-foot, one of the dirtiest plays in hockey.

However, it appears that Chatfield will not be missing any time because of the incident.

NHL insider Frank Seravalli posted that the expectation is for the Department of Player Safety to let this one slide.

That surprised me, but if you're an NHL fan, trying to predict what the Department of Player Safety does is pretty tough to do.

But I thought for sure that they'd give him at least a 1-gam slap-on-the-wrist sussy as if to say, "Hey, now; don't be doing that again, pal."

But nope, sounds like nothing.

This feistiness did get me fired up for the playoffs. The Caps are in first place with 105 points, while the Canes are in second in the division with 96 points. Barring a total collapse to finish the last couple of weeks of this season, the teams should finish in those positions.

This would mean that the Caps will play the second wild card team (which could be one of about five different teams), while the Canes will almost certainly play the New Jersey Devils.

And if both win those series — and I would probably pick both of them to do so, especially against a Jack Hughes-less Devils team — we should get a rematch of this slugfest in the second round.

Buckle up, kids.