On Friday afternoon the NHL announced that New York Islander Trevor Gillies will face a ten game suspension for his hit on Cal Clutterbuck. (Video of the hit can be found at the bottom of this post)
Gillies was a repeat offender, with the hit in question coming the first game back from a nine game suspension resulting from a game against Pittsburgh.
While some people were calling for Gillies to be kicked out of the league, and others were saying he should be suspended for the season, a ten game suspension seems pretty fair.
Gillies hit was illegal in a way, and there are consequences for doing that so soon after another dangerous hit.
I’m happy to say that the NHL did not take this as a chance to make an extreme example out of Gillies, but rather did what most people would judge as fair.
Gillies will lose around $100,000 for the two suspensions combined according to MSG’s Deg Kaufman.
I don’t know if the Islanders will want Gillies around come next season, and I’m not so sure I see any other team picking up a player like him. He has shown a serious lack of hockey skill, and in this day and age there are players who can be an enforcer and contribute in other ways too. Gillies has not shown he is one of them.
That being said, it will be interesting to see how Gillies plays after these two suspensions, because he knows the eyes of the entire NHL disciplinary committee will be on him.
Overall I’m happy with the way the NHL handled this, and I think players and fans around the league will be as well.
As always feel free to comment below with your judgment of how fair the suspension was.
Original Story:
http://www.thelonelyislanders.com/201...
