Byfuglien faces telephone hearing for rule 48 violation on Habs’ Gallagher

Photo Credit: Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports

Winnipeg Jets defender Dustin Byfuglien will have a telephone hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety for an illegal check to the head – a hit which was incorrectly called elbowing by the on-ice official – on Montreal Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher in Sunday night’s contest. The hearing will reportedly take place at 9am EST, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger.

Byfuglien has always played the game on the edge, and has an additional disadvantage in that, even in the toughest hockey league in the world, he’s an apex predator and players seem to bounce off of him dramatically. On a number of occasions this season Byfuglien has been at the centre of a of controversial hit, but this Gallagher hit would seem to be a bridge too far for the league’s disciplinary arm. 

We’ll find out how long he’ll be out of the lineup, probably early tomorrow.

Here’s the hit in question:

You can understand why the play was called elbowing by the on-ice official, particularly because of the way Byfuglien’s elbow flared upward after the fact. Having reviewed the play, Stephane Quintal and the Department of Player Safety have elected to try Byfuglien for a rule 48 violation – an illegal check to the head – which seems more accurate.

When I watched the play yesterday I wasn’t sure that Byfuglien deserved to be punished for the hit. The head is the primary point of contact, and Byfuglien could’ve changed the angle to make sure that he struck Gallagher on the side, but it certainly wasn’t an egregious elbow to the diminutive Canadiens forward’s cranium. 

I’d suspect then that the league’s decision to have a hearing with Byfuglien over this hit is, in part, a cumulative punishment for a player who has, perhaps, been warned previously to be careful this season. 

Byfuglien is a repeated offender who has been suspended in the recent past and fined on multiple occasions. Past incidents – recent, or not – are generally considered when the league is determining the length of a particular suspension, but Byfuglien’s repeat offender status simply means that he’ll surrender salary based on the games missed during the course of his supplemental discipline, rather than the days elapsed.