On Saturday, we showed you video of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin and Chicago's Ben Eager dishing out a pair of questionable hits. Malkin, the NHL's leading scorer, had a disciplinary hearing with the league over the phone, and apparently will not face any further punishment from the league.
Eager, on the other hand, wasn't as fortunate, as league discipline czar Colin Campbell handed out a three-game suspension for his blindside hit on Edmonton's Liam Reddox on Friday night.
According to the NHL press release, the suspension will cost Eager over $21,000 in salary, while he'll be eligible to return to the lineup on March 29 against the Vancouver Canucks, a game that could go a long way toward deciding home-ice advantage in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Eager was not penalized for the hit during Chicago's 5-4 loss. He was issued a three-game suspension earlier this season for swinging his stick at Sean Avery.
Just because it needs to be mentioned: Avery was suspended six games for telling a sex joke earlier this season. We'll continue to make this comparison as long as the NHL allows us to make this comparison by sending the message it's worse to make stupid comments than it is to hit players in the head.
Ben Eager Suspended 3 Games originally appeared on NHL FanHouse on Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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