The Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t make it to this season’s Stanley Cup playoffs, but forward Phil Kessel is finding ways to pass the time.

Kessel sent out a tweet (that has since been deleted) on Monday night, giving fans a view into his hockey-less life.

“Night fishing with friends doesn’t get much better,” Kessel wrote in the tweet.

That didn’t go down well with the Maple Leafs fan base, which much rather would be watching Kessel score goals in the playoffs than hear about how much he loves night fishing.

The responses Kessel got on Twitter were predictable.

The tweets compelled Kessel to respond with a follow-up message in which he wrote: “Relax people playoffs would been better some of u need to chill out it’s crazy.”

He deleted that tweet, too.

The language of Rule 50 (kneeing) provides for a minor, major penalty (plus automatic game misconduct) or match penalty to be assessed at the discretion of the referee based on the "severity of the infraction."

In judging "severity" of this highly dangerous and dirty act, the referee must take into account the time, space and distance between the two players prior to contact, in addition to the angle of attack by the player guilty of leading with his knee to make contact with his opponent. Most often a two minute minor penalty can result when a player is about to miss an intended check and makes his body posture bigger with a reflex extension of the knee to initiate contact. This is executed with players in close proximity to one another.

The extended distance that Matt Cooke travelled through the neutral zone on a straight attack path toward Tyson Barrie, coupled with the fact that Cooke extended his knee well in advance of the impending contact (left skate off the ice through approach), elevates this infraction to a major and game misconduct or even a match penalty (I assessed a match penalty to Bryan Marchment in a game in San Jose for a very similar play when 'Mush' approached his opponent with knee extended outwards a good 8-10 feet prior to delivering a knee hit).

Only a minor penalty was assessed on this play. The infraction took place just inside the Colorado blue line. The referee that made the call came into camera frame with his arm raised from the neutral zone outside the blue line on the opposite side of the ice to where the infraction occurred. He was supposed to be the trailing referee on the play and it would appear that he vacated the end zone prematurely. As such, his sight line would have at best been parallel to the play. From this deficient vantage, the referee was provided a completely different perspective of Matt Cooke's knee extension and contact.

Following the game last night, the National Hockey League Player Safety Committee announced that Matt Cooke was offered the opportunity for an in-person hearing as required by provisions of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for any suspension that can exceed five games. With a Wednesday hearing, it is not a question if Cooke will be suspended but only for how many games.

You ask if Matt Cooke can or will be treated as a repeat offender. While Cooke deserves much credit for effecting positive change in his method of play over the past three seasons prior to this incident, the fact remains that a player's past history will follow him throughout the balance of his NHL playing career.

My colleague and friend Bob McKenzie shared the following information with me that should address your questions. A player's record is expunged if he goes 18 months without an infraction but that only applies to the formula for calculating lost wages. If a player has a fine or suspension in last 18 months, he's a repeat offender and the lost wages formula is based on number of games suspended (5/82 for a five game suspension) as opposed to number of days (5/182 for a five game suspension in a 182-day regular season).

But a player's "history" stays with him as a permanent record and the NHL can take into account any or all past transgressions when determining length of a suspension.

History doesn't allow the NHL to suspend a player who, if not for his history, wouldn't be suspended. But once an illegal play has taken place, the NHL can use Matt Cooke's history as part of his sentencing even if his transgressions were years ago.

In the playoffs there are no lost wages; therefore the actual repeat offender status doesn't come into play for a player suspended in the playoffs unless the suspension carries over to the regular season.

By virtue of the in-person hearing being extended, it would appear that Matt Cooke's history coupled with the seriousness of this incident could be taken into account for the purpose of suspension. At the very least, the Player Safety Committee is not taking the option to impose a five-plus game suspension off the table.