Here we go again: Sportsnet wonders whether Zadina should be disciplined for calling Conor Garland a ‘midget’

I posted this over the course of the recap as I figured that it was not a great idea to give this gratuitous quotation for clicks’ sake, but Sportsnet has made a big to-do, so:

Filip Zadina got hit very hard by Conor Garland in the Red Wings-Canucks game on Saturday night. After the game, Zadina called Garland a “midget,” which is not nice to people who are actually short and/or actually deal with dwarfism. And here we go again:

“I’m ok… I was just reaching for the puck and he just reversed me I guess, you know, like the midget like he is,” Zadina said. “It’s pretty normal, you know, that he reversed hit because I don’t think he’s strong enough to battle me in the corner one-on-one.”

It’s unclear if Zadina will be disciplined by the league for his choice of words. The word midget is widely viewed as a slur against people living with dwarfism. In 2019, Hockey Canada stopped using the word — as well as novice, peewee, atom and bantam — to name the different age groups in minor hockey, saying in a statement that “We believe everyone should feel welcome in the game…”

When asked about his role in the play, Garland shrugged it off, saying “it is what it is.”

“I kind of hit the brakes trying to create space. I know there’s a guy behind me,” Garland said. “He skated into my back… I grabbed the puck, I stopped and, like I said, I got a penalty for a hit to the head. I hope he’s doing well. I’ve taken plenty of hits to the head over my career. Some end up as nothing, some end up as something serious so I wish him nothing but the best.”

Garland is a 5’10,” 165-pound right wing, and he scored the Canucks’ only goal against the Red Wings, so I’m not about to suggest that he is anything but a good hockey player who unintentionally hit Zadina in the face/head while trying to stick his butt out to avoid getting rammed into the side boards.

You should also know the wider context of what Zadina said, per WXYZ’s Jeanna Trotaman:

Zadina on the Red Wings coming to his defense: “I appreciate what the boys did for me. They stood up for me & we got each other’s back, which makes them the best teammates & makes us a really good team. That’s why we won we were the better team & better teammates than Vancouver.” https://t.co/mhqKIpX91O— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) October 17, 2021

So Zadina was angry, he was trying to find an expletive to use, and he did not go with a politically correct one. If you’re offended by his word choice, that’s okay–maybe there was a better word that Zadina could have used–but I think that a stern talking-to might be the worst punishment Zadina should have to face until Detroit heads out to Vancouver on March 17th.

We don’t need to be talking about a fine or a suspension here. It was the wrong word to use. He’ll learn to keep his temper better in the post-game remarks. The end.