The NHL announced Thursday that Nashville defenseman Shea Weber would not be suspended, only fined $2,500 for his repeated blows to the head of Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg Wednesday night.
Weber was given a two minute roughing penalty at the 20:00 mark of the third period.
“This was a reckless and reactionary play on which Weber threw a glancing punch and then shoved Zetterberg’s head into the glass,” said NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety and Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan. “As is customary whenever Supplemental Discipline is being considered, we contacted Detroit following the game and were informed that Zetterberg did not suffer an apparent injury and should be in the lineup for Game 2.
“This play and the fine that addressed it will be significant factors in assessing any incidents involving Shea Weber throughout the remainder of the playoffs.”
So if Zetterberg faked an injury Weber would be suspended? Hmm… interesting. If this is the case then why was Detroit’s Kyle Quincey given a one game suspension for elbowing Florida’s Tomas Kopecky in the head during the final week of the regular season?
I think the key set of words here are regular season.
The only thing the NHL has done here is made it very apparent that player safety simply isn’t as important in the playoffs than it is in the regular season.
Ref: Detroit Free Press, NHL.com
