NHL feeling turbulence from Air Canada

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A major sponsor of the NHL and its six Canada-based teams is upset with the league for not disciplining Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara for a reckless hit that left Montreal’s Max Pacioretty with a fractured vertebra and concussion.

On the theory that hitting someone in the wallet is the best persuasive force—besides hitting in the head, of course—Air Canada told the NHL in a letter Wednesday that it’s not happy to associate its brand “with sports events which could lead to serious and irresponsible accidents; action must be taken by the NHL before we are encountered with a fatality.”

Canada’s QMI News Agency reported this first. You can read the rest of it here.

You can be sure this will stir some talk at the Board of Governors’ meetings next week in Florida. Head shots were already scheduled to be on the agenda, but the discussion should be even more heated now.

Helene Elliott