Suspension is too little, too late for Blackhawks
The Blackhawks should feel no satisfaction by the NHL's decision on Thursday to suspend Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Deryk Engelland three games for the head shot to Marcus Kruger on Tuesday.
What do the Hawks get out of this?
Nothing.
They've lost Kruger with a diagnosed concussion, according to NHL vice president of player safety Brendan Shanahan, and they got shortchanged at the time of the incident when referees Chris Lee and Rob Martell blew the call on the ice by not penalizing Engelland.
The Hawks actually wound up short-handed when John Scott jumped in for Kruger and earned an instigator minor penalty. The Penguins scored a key power-play goal with Scott in the box in a game they went on to win 3-2.
Hawks coach Joel Quenneville admitted on Wednesday he would have rather had the correct call made on the ice by Lee and Martell, who may or may not face discipline for their poor work.
The NHL does not announce discipline for officials who miss plays.
“Maybe we did get a tough call on the ice,” Quenneville said. “When you're playing that game you're not too concerned about what happens afterwards. You want the right call made on the ice.
“It was a hit at the end of the night you might look back at and say we were short-handed in a situation where we could have had the power play.”
Shanahan outlined why he suspended Engelland, saying the Penguins' defenseman launched himself with a forearm at Kruger, targeting the head of the Hawks' rookie center who missed Wednesday's win over Montreal with a concussion.
“Although Engelland had Kruger lined up for what could potentially be a clean body check, his elevation and launch upon impact, as well as the way Engelland forcefully drives his forearm up and into the face area makes this in our eyes a recklessly targeted shot to Kruger's head,” Shanahan explained.
“It should be noted that while Kruger remained in the game and finished the first period, he experienced symptoms during the first intermission and has been diagnosed with a concussion.”
Kruger was allowed to come back out for the second period and sat on the bench, but when it came time to take a shift he told Quenneville he was unable to do so.
“A couple times I had a call for him to go and he just wasn't ready to play,” Quenneville said.
Twice this week the Hawks have been on the receiving end of a head shot that earned a suspension. Calgary's Rene Bourque was suspended two games for driving Brent Seabrook's head into the glass from behind on Sunday.
Fortunately for the Hawks, Seabrook wasn't hurt seriously, although he did miss the final two periods of that game.
“We've seen it around the league so to be a victim of that you think about it much more and it kind of gets on your nerves even more when things like that happen,” Hawks captain Jonathan Toews said. “It's unfortunate a couple of our players have had to deal with some hits that are arguably over the line. We've said it over and over players need to be smarter with that if we're going to control it. It is something within our control.”
Ÿ The Hawks, who are off until Monday, assigned rookie forwards Jeremy Morin and Brandon Pirri to Rockford on Thursday.
It's possible one of both of them could be recalled for Monday's game against Columbus depending on the health status of Kruger and Daniel Carcillo (upper body injury).