Player Safety throws the book at first-time offender, delivering outlandish suspension for cross check

The incident occurred at 13:50 of the first period in Saturday's 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators. Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin was laying motionless on the ice after getting punched in the back of the head by Mathieu Joseph and almost simultaneously being crosschecked by Parker Kelly.

Perron reacted by going after Zub, delivering a stiff, reckless crosscheck that sent Zub tumbling to the ice.

Insider Elliotte Friedman reports that if Perron chooses to appeal, he would go first to Commissioner Bettman and then to an independent arbitrator.

The 35-year-old is in the final year of his two-year contract with a cap hit of $4,75M. During his suspension, he will forfeit a staggering $148,437.28 in salary.

This is Perron's first time being suspended in his seventeen seasons in the NHL. During the second round of the 2022 playoffs, Perron was also fined $5,000 for cross-checking then-Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri.

There is very little debate that Perron's actions were reckless but the NHL really threw the book at him on this one.