No Matter What Happens Legally, It's Likely Curtains For Matt Petgrave And His Pro Hockey Career | Matt Reigle

This week, a man was arrested in the UK on suspicion of manslaughter related to the death of former NHLer and Nottingham Panthers forward Adam Johnson. While the man posted bail and wasn’t formally charged, no details as to his name or age were given. However, this could have been only one person: Sheffield Steelers defenseman Matt Petgrave, the man whose skate slashed Johnson’s throat leading to his death.

Whether or not Petgraves actions were intentional, it looks as though he may be in the hands of a UK court at some point, however, his future in professional hockey seems like it will be in jeopardy. Innocent or guilty.

As it stands, the 31-year-old Toronto native is still on the Steelers roster following the incident. And he’s not only on the roster, he received a standing ovation despite not being in the lineup over the weekend.

While Petgrave has yet to step on the ice — or even be heard from since Johnson’s death — it’s hard not to think that his playing days are over.

Petgrave Spent His North American Career In The Minors

Petgrave spent several seasons in the Ontario Hockey League with the Niagara Ice Dogs, Owen Sound Attack, and Oshawa Generals. He then spent four seasons with the University of New Brunswick.

Following his college career, Petgrave went undrafted and found himself with the ECHL’s Brampton Beast. Aside from the occasional stint in the American Hockey League, Petgrave spent most of his time in North America in the ECHL.

He then went abroad and split the 2021-22 season in Slovakia and Czhecia. After that, he signed with the Sheffield Steelers ahead of the 2022-23 season, and that brings us to today.

The reason I went through all of this is to illustrate that while Petgrave is a good enough hockey player to play professionally, he is far from a shutdown D-man that teams will be itching to sign should his time with Sheffield draw to a close. 

It’s hard to even fathom a team in any league willing to cut a check to bring Petgrave into the fold after this. We’ve seen teams overlook a lot over the years but that’s if they deemed a player's talent or potential to outweigh the baggage that they bring with them.

For Petgrave, the baggage would likely be too much.

Matt Petgrave playing with the AHL's Laval Rocket in 2018. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Will Any Team Be Willing To Overlook His Involvement In Adam Johnson's Death?

The question of intent is still officially up in the air. However, there's no denying that Petgrave was involved in the collision that led to Adam Johnson's death. That's quite a lot to overlook, but we've seen teams overlook things like this, just not normally things that resulted in on-ice deaths.

If a team feels there is an in-game upside to weathering any bad press, maybe he'll get an opportunity.

Petgrave had 3 points through 7 games this season. Last year, he put up an impressive 48 points in 54 games last season. That was good enough for all-star honors.

However, while the EIHL is better than it once was, it’s not even close to being one of the top leagues in Europe.

Maybe there’s a league out there willing to overlook what has happened the last few weeks. The KHL, for instance, was more than happy to welcome Slava Voynov after he was indefinitely suspended from the NHL following domestic abuse allegations.

However, let’s be real: an EIHL D-man is not going to be making the jump to the KHL.

History Is Not On Petgrave's Side

Other players who were part of on-ice incidents saw their careers ended or stifled. Marty McSorley was dealt a year suspension and found guilty of assault with a weapon when he slashed Donald Brashear in 2000. He attempted to play in the United Kingdom and Germany but wasn’t able to due to his NHL suspension. He never played another NHL game and closed out his career with the IHL’s (now AHL’s) Grand Rapids Griffins.

Former NHLer Raffi Torres saw his career stifled after a 41-game suspension with he San Jose Sharks in 2015. The suspension was the result of repeated predatory hits to other players' heads. He was sent down to the AHL after the suspension and never appeared in another NHL game.

However, again, neither one of these incidents resulted in anyone's death.

It would appear that Petgrave's only hope is to stick with the Sheffield Steelers. Sheffield hasn't made any decision on whether or not they'll keep the D-man in the fold. From what we saw the other night, fans were more than happy to give him a rousing standing ovation.

Perhaps they think this will all blow over. If they do, that's complete lunacy.

Violent, dirty plays don't go away, nor do the reputations of the players who make them. Petgrave was already a guy who, from various accounts, toed the line when it came to acceptable play regularly.

Many people won't be ready to give him the benefit of the doubt. If he needs a new place to play, I don't think many teams will either.

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