This time, it's Colorado's Cody McLeod hitting Minnesota's Jared Spurgeon.
Will this get Brendan Shanahan's attention to issue a suspension?
Wild fans are already up in arms over two hits that they think should have gotten suspensions. Now this.
The first hit was one I felt could have and probably should have gotten a suspension to Winnipeg's Bogosian. It didn't happen. It was a hockey play that many felt didn't deserve additional discipline because the victim, Bouchard, put himself in a vulnerable position just before the hit.
Again, Wild fans greatly disagree. One even broke down the hit frame-by-frame. I stand by my opinion that Bogosian acted recklessly and should have been suspended under Rule 41.1. "The onus is on the player applying the check to make sure his opponent is not in a defenseless position..."
This more recent hit looked very similar to the play when Oiler Lennart Petrell shoved Wild Marek Zidlicky into the corner boards.
Both saw game misconducts. Petrell didn't see a suspension and I don't think McLeod will see one either.
Here's why.
Under Rule 41.6, any player that gets two game-misconduct penalties in a season for boarding or hitting from behind will automatically be suspended one game and an additional game for any additional violations of those rules. They also already recieved an automatic $100 fine (assuming Rule 41.6 was applied which clearly states that a major penalty results in the fine). No, it's not a lot of money, but the harsh warning is already built into the rules with the automatic suspension looming over the player.
Just so you know, the Boarding Rule 41 doesn't gauge of the viciousness of the attack on a victim to assess major, minor, or game misconduct penalties. It is the "degree of violence of the impact with the boards". So a little shove, like Petrell's or McLeod's, still result in big penalties because of big injuries. And Rule 41.5 states that if a major penalty is assessed (meaning the impact to the boards was great), then a game misconduct must be applied if the injury was to the head or face.
Bogosian recieved the same punishment (5 minute major and a game misconduct) because of the head injury as a result of a violent collision into the boards. I still feel his actions in the way he cross-checked a player on the back into the boards warranted further punishment, but he didn't get away clean regardless of this potential punishment pass. If he hits again from the back or boards someone in a way that causes a head impact, he's getting suspended then for at least one game. Same with Petrell or McLeod (whose plays seem more like hockey plays gone bad than Bogosian's intentional attack).
In light of the knowledge of Rule 41.6, it is a lot easier to see why Bogosian didn't get a suspension. The hit itself was borderline at best as a "suspension-worthy" hit because of the odd position Bouchard was in, the fact he may have turned into it just prior to the collision, and the fact that Bogosian didn't skate clear across ice to deliver the blow.
Wild fans are not going to be happy if this results in another "pass" by Shanahan, but I feel it is completely justifiable given the built in safeguards to automatically hold players involved in creating head injuries to a higher standard of discipline moving forward from dangerous (intentional or accidental) hits to the boards or from behind.
