The NHL has suspended Minnesota Wild forward Brad Staubitz, and Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman James Wisniewski indefinitely, pending a review by the NHL’s department of player safety. The hearing is set for Monday.Brad Staubitz was guilty of checking from behind, 4:24 into the third period of Friday nights’ pre-season match-up between the Wild and the Blue Jackets. Though the hit wasn’t the same, it was the same infraction that left Flames’ forward Letourneau-Leblond suspended for the rest of the pre-season plus one regular season game, and Flyers’ forward Jody Shelley suspended for 5 pre-season games and 5 regular season games.
Later in the third period James Wisniewski received a 2:00 minute minor penalty for an illegal check to the head of Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck.
The Wild won the match 4-3 in overtime in the rough Friday night pre-season matchup, which left these two players to wonder what senior VP of player safety Brendan Shanahan will deem a worthy punishment.
Under Shanahans’ reign, it must be considered how severe the hits were. The big question mark is how severe the first check to the head will be punished in terms of setting a benchmark for players to abide by.
Kendall Grubbs
Image from NHL.com
It's obvious the guys on all the teams are anxious to get back to playing, but it looks like some are "over enthusiastic" ?? Too many concussions over the last few years so I'm glad they are getting serious about it and making the players more accountable.
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