Will the NHL discipline Evgeni Malkin for hit on Wayne Simmonds?

I had to give this a “Maybe” vote, solely because it’s hard to say what the league will decide. In my opinion, Geno clearly looks up and sees Simmonds coming. He plays the puck and then lowers his shoulder and thrusts himself forward. Simmonds lowers himself, whether to dodge the check or poke the puck, but it looks like a clean hit to me.

I don’t think Geno went after Simmonds to hurt him, or purposely hit him in the head or anything. He simply protects himself, reacts well to on-coming pressure, and makes sure he’s on the giving end of the hits (most of the time). When a big guy is coming toward you and you’re playing the puck, you better have your head up and be ready to make a play. Geno made the play, Simmonds was on the wrong end of it and took a blow to the head.

No fine or suspension neccesary, but we’ll see what happens.

head shot, yo.

It’s so hard to decide if a player should be fined or suspended for a hit like this. Do the people who decide ever consider the players who routinely don’t keep their heads up or duck at the last second to avoid a hit? There’s such a fine line between a dirty and clean hit because so many factors have to be considered. I voted maybe and that’s because you could make a case for either side. The second I saw it for the first time, I thought, “What are you doing Geno?” The angle that shows Malkin from behind is the first shot I saw of it and it looked pretty intentional to me. JMO so we’ll see what happens

The angle posted here looks even more intentional to me if you continually hit the pause/play button and watch it frame by frame. Simmonds had his eye on the puck the whole time and was in the middle of reaching to poke it out. I dunno, I just remember Malkin slew footing everyone in his first year and during international play, so if he was intentionally trying to hurt Simmonds, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I don’t think there there will be a fine or suspension handed out. But i also went with maybe because if the NHL is trying to cut down on head shots this is the kind of thing they will keep a closer eye on. The hit i seen last night in the Oilers game by Ben Eager on Edmonton’s Raddox was more blatant and also late. Malkins like some said before me was more or a defensive reaction. IMO.

I don’t think that’s an intentional head shot. He sees the guy coming out of the corner of his eye and lowers the shoulder. It’s not like he pulled an OV and took 15 strides at someone.

The Contact was not Malkin’s fault, but he clearly prepared for the hit, in the hit or be hit type of preparation and I think he could tell it was going to be a head shot. But he also didn’t unload on Simmonds.

So I don’t know how they will see it, I doubt a suspension comes from it.

The NHL apparently conducted a “hearing by phone” with Geno. I hope they allowed him to use a translator as it might be hard for him to make his case with a somewhat limited vocabulary.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09080/957418-100.stm?cmpid=penguins.xml

It doesn’t look like Malkin was trying to hurt him, but I can see how the NHL wants players to be more careful when the head is involevd.

It looks to me like he’s expecting the contact, and he leans in with his shoulder. As far as I know, a shoulder-to-head hit (and, for that matter, a hip-to-head hit also) is completely legal in hockey as long there’s no boarding involved. In other words, a legal check is still legal even if you make contact with the opponent’s head. The famous Scott Stevens/Eric Lindros hit, if you’ll remember, was not penalized, and shouldn’t have been. I’m about as vehement a critic of cheap shots in hockey as you’ll find, and I’d be the first to say Malkin would deserve a suspension if he’d used his elbow. But it really looks like he leads with the shoulder here. No foul.

*sketchy