Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Suspected mugshot of Matt Petgrave goes viral on Twitter as he’s arrested for manslaughter.
The Nottingham Panthers player was hit in the neck by a skate during a match against the Sheffield Steelers on 28 October.
The 29-year-old was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
A post-mortem examination confirmed he died as a result of a fatal neck injury, South Yorkshire Police said.
The force said detectives arrested the suspect on Tuesday, adding that he remained in custody.
The Nordiques were founded in 1972 and played in the World Hockey Association before joining the NHL in 1979. The beloved franchise was sold following the 1994-95 season and moved to Denver where they won a Stanley Cup in their first year.
In 2016, the NHL’s board of governors deferred Quebec City’s bid for a team — due in part to a fluctuating Canadian dollar — during a meeting where they unanimously approved expanding to Las Vegas.
Canada’s seven NHL teams earn ticket and concession revenue in Canadian dollars while salaries are paid in U.S. dollars. Johnson’s former NHL team, the Pittsburgh Penguins, said it would mandate that its AHL and ECHL affiliates wear neck protection devices. A few days later, the Western Hockey League announced that it would be making neck protection devices mandatory for its players.
Det Ch Supt Becs Horsfall, from South Yorkshire Police, said: “We have been carrying out extensive inquiries to piece together the events which led to the loss of Adam in these unprecedented circumstances.
“We have been speaking to highly specialised experts in their field to assist in our inquiries and continue to work closely with the health and safety department at Sheffield City Council, which is supporting our ongoing investigation.
“Adam’s death has sent shockwaves through many communities, from our local residents here in Sheffield to ice hockey fans across the world.”
She urged members of the public to refrain from “comment and speculation which could hinder” the investigation. The death of Johnson, who was from Minnesota in the US, sparked an outpouring of grief across the world.
Talking to KSTP-TV, a local news station based in Minnesota, the player’s aunt Kari Johnson said her nephew was planning to propose to his partner, Ryan Wolfe.
“We were all really excited because we were really looking forward to their future and he didn’t get a chance to ask her, and then this happened,” she said.
Johnson previously played in North America’s National Hockey League (NHL), featuring 13 times for Pittsburgh Penguins.
He made the move to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL) for the 2020-21 season, before spells with the Ontario Reign and the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in the American Hockey League.
Johnson played for Augsburger Panther in Germany before switching to the Nottingham Panthers in August. The player whose skate blade cut Johnson’s neck was Matt Petgrave, 31, who plays for Sheffield.
Johnson’s death has since prompted a number of different leagues throughout the sport to examine their player safety measures when it comes to potentially using neck protection devices.
It started when the English Ice Hockey Association announced two days after Johnson’s death that it would make neck guards mandatory starting in 2024 as part of a three-step plan.
While any mandates at the NHL level would need to be agreed upon by the NHL Players’ Association, there have been NHL players who started wearing neck guards at practices and in games.
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