Dallas Stars' Ryan Garbutt Suspended 5 Games For Charging Anaheim Ducks' Dustin Penner

The expected news that Dallas Stars forward Ryan Garbutt would be suspended came down today. The verdict: five games for charging, without pay.

Brendan Shanahan made the decision factoring in that, in order to make the hit, Garbutt skated to gain momentum and jumped up into the hit -- a charge for sure. Since Garbutt has no history of supplementary discipline and Dustin Penner had an injury as a result of the hit, five games was what was settled on for his suspension.

Five games seems to be the going rate for suspensions this season -- both Colorado Avalanche forward Cody McLeod and St Louis Blues forward Maxim Lapierre were suspended five games each for boarding players where an injury resulted in the play.

"I can't defend [the hit]" Stars head coach Lindy Ruff said this afternoon on the Bob and Dan show on 1310 The Ticket. "As stated before the year, they're trying to eliminate those. There really was no intent. It's the type of situation the league wants the players to stay away from."

Here is the NHL Department of Player Safety's video regarding Garbutt's suspension: