The NHL Wheel of Justice has stopped and landed at two games for Dallas Stars defenseman Jason Demers.
Dallas’s Jason Demers has been suspended two games for elbowing Pittsburgh’s Nick Bonino. Video: https://t.co/SQveQiHkSi
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) October 23, 2015
Two games for Demers after the primary contact was the head of Nick Bonino of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It’s an interesting turn of events, considering that head coach Lindy Ruff said “Not on that one, I don’t.” when asked about the chance of supplemental discipline after the game.
The play did look an awful lot like a mis-timed hit that would not have resulted in head contact more times than not. Luckily, it doesn’t appear as though Bonino had any lingering effects of the hit today, though he was held out of the rest of the game last night. It’s standard protocol after a hit to the head.
Bonino said his head feels pretty good. His face is sore. “No lingering stuff.”
— Seth Rorabaugh (@emptynetters) October 23, 2015
This opens up the opportunity to get Jamie Oleksiak or Patrik Nemeth their first game(s) of the season. While Ruff has said previously that he doesn’t think that rotating in one defensemen on a pairing makes sense, he’ll have to do some shuffling the next two games while Demers serves his time.
Who comes in? Would you split the two games and get both young defensemen a game, or would you play one over the other for both games instead?