NHL

Should This Forearm Shiver To The Blackhawks’ Marian Hossa’s Head Spur A Suspension?

In April of 2012, Chicago Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa was the victim of a devastating, dirty hit from the Coyotes’ Raffi Torres. He didn’t play for eight months. And last night, he took a nasty forearm shiver from Vancouver Canucks winger Jannik Hansen. Hossa left the game, and it didn’t look good.

Hansen faces a disciplinary meeting with czar Brendan Shanahan today.

Should Hansen be suspended? He (unsurprisingly) thinks the hit was clean:

“We were both kind of jumping for (the puck),” Hansen said. “He grabs the puck first and as I’m coming down I kind of land on him a little bit. Apparently, I hit him in the back of the head is what the ref was telling me once I come down. It’s hard for me to tell what really happened.”

That’s not how I see it, nor how the announcers saw it. Those are the Blackhawks announcers, but their analysis makes more sense than Hansen’s. Why was he leading with his forearm? We can’t be sure that was malicious, but it didn’t look like Hansen was going for the puck. I think we’ll see a suspension following today’s 3:30 p.m. hearing.

And let’s hope Hossa is OK.

[Puck Daddy]