NHL Player Safety announces verdict on Josh Manson hit to Michael McCarron
Josh Manson got off easy. The Colorado Avalanche defenseman was fined $5,000 by the NHL on Tuesday for butt-ending Minnesota Wild forward Michael McCarron in Game 4.
The incident happened Monday night at the Xcel Energy Center, where Manson drew a four-minute double-minor after a video review.
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That's the maximum dollar amount allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. No suspension. No missed games. Just a number that barely registers on a $4.5 million cap hit.
McCarron crumpled to the ice along the boards. The replay was ugly, and the league's Department of Player Safety still chose the cheapest available answer.
Manson has been productive in this series, with 2 assists and a +1 across 4 playoff games. He carries a +42 rating in 79 regular-season contests, the kind of two-way résumé Colorado leans on every shift.
So the question becomes simple. Does a fine that costs less than a night out in Denver actually deter anything when the Stanley Cup is 12 wins away?
Avalanche lead 3-1 heading into Game 5 in Colorado
Colorado holds a 3-1 stranglehold on the first-round series. The home club blew Game 1 open with a 9-6 win and has since added 5-2 and 5-2 victories on either side of Minnesota's lone response.
The Wild stole Game 3 at home, 5-1. They needed a repeat on Monday and got buried instead, dropping Game 4 by three goals on home ice.
John Hynes now faces an elimination game on the road. Minnesota went 23-14-4 away from St. Paul during the regular season, which keeps the door cracked, barely.
Jared Bednar's group has been the better team all series, outscoring Minnesota by a wide margin and grinding the matchup into the kind of physical, edge-of-suspension hockey the Avalanche thrive in.
McCarron, a 31-year-old bottom-six forward, has 4 points in 10 playoff games for the Wild. He's the type of player who absorbs that hit and keeps showing up. Whether he dresses Wednesday is the next thread.
The clip is short, brutal, and clear. You watch the stick angle, you watch McCarron drop, and you wonder what exactly Player Safety needs to see before the wallet stops being a punchline.
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Game 5 goes Wednesday night in Colorado. If the Wild can't steal one, the offseason starts. If they do, suddenly the team that handed out a $5,000 slap on the wrist might wish it had asked for more discipline from its blue line.
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YESTERDAY
MAY 11, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Martin Necas | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Ross Colton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nazem Kadri | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Parker Kelly | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nathan MacKinnon | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nico Sturm | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Danila Yurov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Drury | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Brock Faber | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Quinn Hughes | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nicolas Roy | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Vladimir Tarasenko | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jack Ahcan | - | - | - | |
| Mackenzie Blackwood | - | - | - | |
| Zach Bogosian | - | - | - | |
| Matthew Boldy | - | - | - | |
| Brent Burns | - | - | - | |
| Marcus Foligno | - | - | - | |
| Nick Foligno | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||