Jacob Trouba doesn’t receive penalty for ‘unsuspecting, blindside headshot’ on Ryan Leonard that sends Capitals rookie out of game
Jacob Trouba, the Fyodor Dostoevsky of dirty hits, delivered another controversial body check, but somehow evaded an ejection. In fact, he didn’t get penalized at all, and the Anaheim Ducks got a power play out of it!
With 3:56 remaining in the first period, the Ducks defenseman delivered what Monumental Sports Network’s Craig Laughlin described as an “unsuspecting, blindside headshot” to Ryan Leonard as the Capitals forward skated the puck around the net. The check bloodied Leonard and sent the rookie sniper out of the game.
Leonard was crouched over and looking down at the puck when the hit was delivered.
After initially calling Trouba for a major, per Joe Beninati, officials Mitch Dunning and Peter MacDougal reviewed the bodycheck on an iPad, looking at multiple replays during the entire TV timeout, and decided, yup, that’s actually totally legal.
Leonard was ruled out of the rest of the game with an upper-body injury at the end of the second intermission.
INJURY UPDATE: #Caps forward Ryan Leonard (upper body) will not return to tonight’s game.
— Capitals PR (@CapitalsPR) December 6, 2025
“I don’t like it at all,” Laughlin said. “He was unsuspecting. He tried to hone in on him, and he did. We’re going to look one more time. I don’t think it’s a clean hit at all. Whoa, that’s a headshot. And I don’t think that is undeserving of a penalty. DEFINITELY deserves a penalty on that hit to Ryan Leonard. He hasn’t returned. The coaching staff of the Caps are very upset with the call. It’s a headshot as Carbery is motioning. And it definitely was. You can see his neck snap when he hit him there.
“But they made a decision there’s no call on the play. The Caps coaching staff is going crazy there, and I agree with them. Because that call should be made. That was a dangerous, dangerous hit.”
The only player to go to the box was the other Jacob on the ice, Jakob Chychrun, who was given a two-minute minor for roughing as he sticked up for his injured teammate. The Ducks scored 12 seconds after the Capitals killed off Chychrun’s penalty. Cutter Gauthier scored his 16th goal of the season after taking a great setup feed from Beckett Sennecke in front of the net.
Trouba was asked answer for the hit during the second period — though he turned down an invitation to fight from Tom Wilson twice.
We’ll see if NHL Player Safety weighs in on the hit later.
