Brendan Shanahan Explains Why Ryan Malone Was Not Suspended

All content belong to the NHL.

NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety and Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan decided Monday that Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Malone would not be suspended for a hit on Montreal Canadiens defenseman Chris Campoli during the third period of a preseason game Friday night in Quebec City. Shanahan, who has been busy this preseason in his new role, said this decision was his "most difficult to date."

The difficulty was squarely in the fact Malone hit Campoli in the head. But Shanahan's evaluation is after Campoli lost the puck on the play, the Canadiens defenseman lunged in a way that the head became the check's principal point of contact.

"We felt that this hit was the most challenging one so far in this preseason for the Department of Player Safety to evaluate," said Shanahan. "In the end, we felt that Malone had committed to the hit when Campoli was upright. However, when the contact was made, Campoli's head position significantly changed just prior to the hit.

"There are elements about the hit that we don't like -- specifically, the principal point of contact being the head and that it was not a full-body check. But the overriding factor in our judgment was that Campoli's loss of the puck and subsequent bending forward for it just prior contributed significantly, if not entirely, to those elements."

To date, Shanahan has suspended nine players for a total of 31 regular season games.

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• NHL
• Brendan
• Shanahan
• Explains
• Why
• Ryan
• Malone
• Was
• Not
• Suspended
• Senior
• Vice
• President
• of
• Player
• Safety
• and
• Hockey
• Operations
• Tampa
• Bay
• Lightning
• Montreal
• Canadiens
• defenseman
• Chris
• Campoli
• youtube
• Ice hockey

[HuskysFan]

Thumbs up if you think Malone is a douche

[gigantibyte]

Love this channel! Thanks for posting.

[BLOCK19PRODUCTIONS]

@GFQuebec123 Hahahaha HABS SUCK!!

[Camgravel]

@GFQuebec123 Chara on Paciorrety was undoubtedly legal. Nobody wants to see a guy go down like that, but it was just unfortunate placing of that stanchion

[GFQuebec123]

It's clear : any kind of check is legal if it's done to a Montreal Canadiens player. That's it that's all! (Malone on Campoli, Chara on Paciorrety, etc many more...)

[lobo2k]

Shanahan's an idiot. Check this hit and Wolski on Alfredsson as proof

[karho]

As a Habs fan, I agree with the decision.  I also like how the league is taking a step forward in explaining their reasoning. This is a step forward in providing an understanding of what is clean or dirty, and other factors being considered to not only the players, but to us fans as well.

[catman1050]

a question. when a goal tender takes a swing at a player on the ice with his goalie stick, what is that called? a love tap? if carey prices love tap to kadri's head is not a clear violation, then what hope is there for hockey? i've watched the replay over and over, and it appears to me that eric cole forced kadri into price., and then price took a swing, impacting on kadri's head.

[BruinsCupWinners]

Of course Habs fans are starting with the conspiracy crap Shanahna explains himself well stop being such bitches Habs fans

[watson8179]

fair enough

[ThatOilersKid]

he was gonna hit his head whether campoli moved his head or not