Calgary Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson has been suspended four games by the NHL for a late hit on Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine.
In the dying seconds of Friday night’s game, Laine took possession of the puck, launching it across the Columbus blue line in an attempt to hit an open Flames net. Andersson barrelled towards Laine with a raised elbow as he hurled himself towards the forward. The Flames blueliner was given a major penalty for elbowing/charging, followed by a game misconduct as a result.
Andersson had never received a suspension across the eight years he’s spent in the NHL. After the game, Blue Jackets head coach Pascal Vincent said he felt it should lead to discipline beyond what Andersson has already received.
“I see a hit to the head and [Andersson] lifting his feet. I saw the replay,” Vincent said. “That’s illegal in my book. So we’ll let the NHL deal with it.”
As for Laine, The Blue Jackets announced early Saturday that the forward did not travel with the club to Minnesota and will miss Saturday’s game against the Wild due to an upper-body injury.
Despite the last-minute events, the Blue Jackets took a 3-1 victory over the Flames to make their record 2-2-0 to start the season; meanwhile, the Flames’ record now sits at 2-2-1.
Andersson has collected one goal and two assists throughout the Flames’ first five games of the year, and Laine sits with one goal and one assist.
The two are next to faceoff on January 25th, 2024, at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Detroit Red Wings Robby Fabbri to miss four weeks due to injury
A lower-body is set to keep Robby Fabbri out of the Detroit Red Wings’ lineup for the next month, head coach Derek Lalonde said Friday.
The team clarified the injury is not related to the forward’s knee, which has been a source of past significant injuries, such as him missing the final month of the 2022-23 season.
Fabbri initially sustained a lower-body injury during the club’s season-opening loss to the New Jersey Devils on October 12th but was ruled as a day-to-day situation. Unfortunately, Fabbri has not returned to the ice since, and further testing has revealed less optimistic news.
“It happened late in New Jersey, he skated the next day, we almost played him the next [game], so it was a true day-to-day [injury],” Lalonde told media.
“It didn’t respond well throughout the week with those skates, [the doctors] did some deeper testing and they found something they did not like, so he’s going to be out one month.”
The 2022-23 campaign saw Fabbri play some of the best hockey of his career. Despite being limited to just 28 games, he collected seven goals and 16 points for the club. In 2021-22, he scored 17 goals and 30 points, just several points shy of his rookie season with the St. Louis Blues in 2015-16.
When healthy, Fabbri has proven himself to be a solid middle-six scorer, but since being drafted in 21st overall in 2014 by the St. Louis Blues, the forward has battled at least one injury per season. He was sidelined for the entirety of the 2017-18 campaign with a torn ACL and other knee-related issues and missed another 35 games to start the 2022-23 campaign.
Despite not having Fabbri on the second line alongside Lucas Raymond and J.T. Compher–the two players he started the season next t0–the Red Wings are currently 4-1-0 to start the season.
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