the niklas hjalmarsson/jason pominville incident

• as with every forward holding the sidewall, jason pominville took a quick glance over his shoulder to evaluate his situation
• did he have the peripheral vision to see an opponent streaking in at 5:00?...possible but not probable in relation to the millisecond he used to look over his shoulder
• niklas hjalmarsson saw an opportunity to go after the puck, and if it meant separating the player from the puck with a crunching check, then so be it
• pominville was highly vulnerable in that situation along the boards as he was looking to gather the puck and move it out of the zone
• hjalmarsson did not let up on his check and hit pominville in the right shoulder blade...the force of which sent him face-first into the glass causing him to collapse

niklas hjalmarsson is hardly a goon, nor is he considered dirty and there's no reason to believe that there was malicious intent to injure, but a shot to the back-side of an opponent can, and should, be considered a blindside hit...players were made aware that these hits would draw the attention of, and a suspension from, nhl disciplinarian colin campbell...

as of this writing, a decision has not been handed down...a 2-3 game suspension would be warranted in this instance...sorry, nik, no matter how clean your (short) past is, the nhl needs to take action if they want to begin to be taken seriously...




http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=337210