No huge surprise here: Columbus Blue Jackets Dane Byers receives three games for his shot to the head of Andrew Desjardins this weekend. Let’s go through the checklist: Injury on the play? Check. Repeat offender? Check. Principle point of contact with the head? Check.
Suspension-worthy? Check.
Here’s video of the CSN California feed with commentary from the Sharks announcers. In many cases like this, homer announcers tend to wear their homer hats. But in this instance, both Randy Hahn and Drew Remenda do a good job of breaking down putting the hit in its proper context.
Immediately after the game, Sharks head coach Todd McLellan gave his two cents to the media about Andrew Desjardins and the hit in general. Like most people, he agreed that this is exactly the type of hit the league is trying to get rid of this season.
Here’s the official word from the league, followed by Brendan Shanahan’s video explanation:
NEW YORK (Jan. 16, 2012) – Columbus Blue Jackets forward Dane
Byers has been suspended for three games without pay for delivering an
illegal check to the head of San Jose Sharks forward Andrew Desjardins
during NHL Game #654 in Columbus on Saturday, Jan. 14, the National Hockey
League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, and
based on his average annual salary, Byers will forfeit $8,918.91. The money
goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Matt Reitz is the Editor-In-Chief here at ViewFromMySeats.com and former NHL Writer for ProHockeyTalk on NBCSports. When he’s not shoving a mic in the face of NHLers or explaining why home teams should wear white, he’s usually trying to figure out what song to play next on his iPod. It’s a never-ending job.
