6 days Ago By NHL Trade Talk
Florida Panthers ’ defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been suspended for two games for elbowing Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel . The hit came in their recent first-round series game. Ekblad was retaliating for a late hit Hagel delivered to Aleksander Barkov .
Florida’s Aaron Ekblad has been suspended for two games for elbowing Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel. https://t.co/X3QeNt39Va The video description that accompanied the news of Ekblad’s suspension explained the elbow to the head of Lightning forward Brandon Hagel: “As the video shows, the Lightning work the puck up the half wall to Hagel with Ekblad pinching down from the point position.
Hagel collects the puck and plays it off the wall. As he does, Ekblad takes his right hand off of his stick, raises his elbow, pulls it back, and uses the extended arm to deliver a blow that strikes Hagel in the head with force. This is elbowing.
” They added that it is important to note that while listening to Ekblad’s contention that he does not intend to strike Hagel in the head, this is not a case where a blow to an opponent’s torso or shoulder rides up and makes subsequent or glancing contact with his head. They said, this is a direct blow to an opponent’s head with an extended elbow delivered with the requisite force for supplemental discipline. They also said that Ekblad — while being suspended for substance abuse — has been neither fined or suspended previously by the Department of player safety in a 732-game NHL career.
The Department of Player Safety suspended Aaron Ekblad for two games. This article first appeared on NHL Trade Talk and was syndicated with permission..
.jpg.webp?itok=UddcOLza)