Brendan Gallagher gets a slim penalty for a hit on Pelech.
Brendan Gallagher gets a slim penalty for a hit on Pelech.
EAST MEADOW, NY -- After an over-the-phone hearing with the NHL's Department of Player Safety, Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher has received a five-game suspension for his dangerous hit on New York Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech.
As usual, the DoPS dropped the ball when they announced that Gallagher would have a hearing via a phone call.
That meant the maximum number of games his suspension could be be five, which they settled on.
The hit was one of the more egregious ones you will see, as Gallagher raised the elbow, making contact with Pelech's head in a clear attempt to injure the Islanders blue liner:
Each time the replay played, the elbow to the head looked worse and worse. The officials and Toronto got the call right, giving Gallagher a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
Because it was ruled a major on the ice, that meant the NHL's Department of Player Safety could hand out supplemental discipline, and given the hit, that was a guarantee.
The question was not if Gallagher would get suspended but how long the suspension would be.
The reason why it wasn't an in-person hearing, which left the punishment open-ended (more than five games), is because Gallagher -- despite being the pest that he is -- has never been suspended by the NHL -- and that's how they gauge these decisions.
That being said, these are the hits that the NHL is trying to get out of the game, and giving him only a few games doesn't prevent this from happening again.
Pelech missed 21 games last season due to a concussion, which means -- if he did, in fact, suffer a concussion -- this would be his second head injury in 14 months.
This was a hit that could have ended Pelech's career, and Gallagher getting five games is a head-scratching penalty for something so egregious.