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Fans expected a suspension for the Blues forward, but how long would the suspension be was the important question.
I happened to be at the game on Tuesday when the hit that is the topic of debate was delivered. It became immediately obvious that it was going to be a game misconduct, but the question was, "would it be worthy of a suspension?"
I think Shanahan has done a good job of being consistent since taking over as head of player discipline for Colin Campbell.
So as a result, fans expected the hit to warrant a suspension.
I thought that Kronwall put himself into a bad position, but Stewart has to be more cautious when he's that close to the boards, especially since the NHL has started cracking down on those types of hit.
I thought Stewart's suspension warranted no more than 2 games due to lack of intent to injure (and lack of injury), no prior history, and the fact that he was expecting a reverse check from Kronwall.
Here is Shanahan's explanation, along with the link to the video....
This does not appear to us to be an attempt to reverse-hit Stewart, and it is our opinion that Kronwall does not contribute significantly to the violent collision with the boards that results from the shove from behind by Stewart. ... The onus is on Stewart to avoid this hit or minimize it." full explanation
While I do see where Shanahan is coming from, I think 3 games is a little harsh as Stewart is not the type of guy that would do something like this and GM Doug Armstrong agrees...
"It's a situation that we accept and we move on with," Armstrong said. "But I just want to be 100 percent crystal clear that our support for the type of player Stewart is hasn't wavered. He's a very honest, hard player. This is a hockey play that went awry, but I don't think it's any reflection on the type of player that Chris Stewart is.
"Playing over four years in the league and with 200 games, he's a physical player and this is the first time he's had any type of incident like this. I'm sure we don't expect him to have another like this."
I think Armstrong says it best when he said it was a hockey play that went "awry" maybe in Stewart's and the fan's eyes it didn't warrant for a suspension, but whats done is done, and you have to respect the fact that Shanahan is serious about cracking down on dangerous hit, but it makes me wonder if this could cause players to cut down their hitting altogether....
The Blues will play their first of three games tomorrow without Stewart and against the Panthers
Quotes from "In the Slot" blog post by Lou Korac link