THE SUSPENSION THAT WASN'T

I’m not quite sure why but I didn’t think the Ryan Malone hit on Chris Campoli was a cut and dry suspension.  It was definitely a headshot but I felt that it could possibly fall under one of the exceptions that Brendan Shanahan laid out earlier this year in the video that he sent out to all teams and players, where a player is reaching for the puck and puts himself into a vulnerable position (see video below).

What may have helped my mindset is the fact that I didn’t watch or listen to the game live.  First, my Blackberry started buzzing with messages from some friends that were asking me how many games I thought it would be and with their predictions of about 5 games.  So maybe it was the anticipation of a terrible hit that skewed my perception or maybe it was the fact that I wasn’t influenced by Malone’s apparent recklessness and borderline play leading up to the hit.  I viewed the hit for what it was and to me, it looked somewhat similar to something that I had seen earlier in Shanahan’s video of legal hits.  I’m not saying that it’s identical but it fit in that frame so to speak.