Suspension incoming for Nathan Bastian after dangerous hit on Pierre Engvall?
The Toronto Maple Leafs skated away with a razor-close 3-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday in the annual Next Gen game. Pierre Engvall scored the game-winner in the final 5 minutes of the contest and he was also inches away from adding an empty-netter to put the game away, when this happened:
Look, Nathan Bastian is a physical player. Those types of players need to play on the edge to make the kind of impact that makes them important to a team, but this one wasn't on the edge. It was over it.
Engvall, thankfully, was alright after taking a head-first spill into the end boards, but the NHL absolutely must take a look at this hit by Bastian. While this was not an illegal check to the head, it certainly was not any less dangerous and, when last I checked, boarding and hits from behind can also be worthy of a suspension.
There are certain types of plays that don't belong in the game. This is one is one of them. If the aim is to remove plays like this, then the Department of Player Safety should make an example of Nathan Bastian, who could have easily ended Engvall's career on that play.
| POLL | ||
MARS 24 | 386 ANSWERS Suspension incoming for Nathan Bastian after dangerous hit on Pierre Engvall? How many games should Bastian get for his hit from behind on Pierre Engvall? | ||
| 0-2 | 196 | 50.8 % |
| 3-5 | 142 | 36.8 % |
| 6-9 | 19 | 4.9 % |
| 10+ | 29 | 7.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
