Jason Demers might be facing some supplemental discipline from the NHL for this hit on Cal Clutterbuck during the, at the moment, 5-2 New York Islanders lead over the Dallas Stars.
Demers gets a 5 min boarding major pic.twitter.com/GgnlDmbJMz
— Stephanie (@myregularface) January 3, 2016
I keep watching it trying to find justification for the hit, or some way to see some logic as to why the hit happened. I’m at a loss. Clutterbuck was in a dangerous situation, he and Demers appeared to be looking at each other, and the principal point of contact appears to be the head. It doesn’t look THAT violent, and Demers doesn’t appear to be striding in to make the damage really bad, but still…you can’t do that.
Clutterbuck would leave the game while Demers picked up a five minute major and a game misconduct. Clutterbuck would eventually return to score so the damage clearly wasn’t that bad.
But, they aren’t supposed to suspend based on damage. They’re supposed to hand out discipline based on the play. Demers has already picked up a two gamer this year for this hit on Nick Spaling so I think there’s a good chance we’re looking at a suspension here.