Claude Giroux met with Brendan Shanahan this morning via telephone, and we should know by the end of the day whether or not he’ll be suspended for his hit on Dainius Zubrus, seen above.
It’s impossible trying to forecast the decision Shanny will make, but I guess we can try anyway: No injury on the play to Zubrus, Giroux is not a repeat offender, it’s the playoffs and he’s a star player. Oh, and we’re talking about an elimination game here. We know the NHL doesn’t want to decide big games, and all we have to do is look at James Neal to realize they take players’ word for it when they say they there was no malicious intent involved on a hit.
Personally, I expect a $2,500 fine. It’ll give the league a track record to point to in the event that something like this happens again, which hopefully it does not. Does he deserve a suspension? Yeah, probably. Could the NHL give him one just to send a message? Absolutely. Will they? I’m thinking not. But we’ll see.
