Edmonton Oilers defenseman Andy Sutton has been suspended five games for an illegal hit to the head of Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog.
For the explanation, here’s NHL Senior VP of Player Safety and Hockey Operations, Brendan Shanahan.
Some dramatic effect there from Shanny. “Sutton takes an improper route to Landeskog and does not deliver a full body check. Instead...he picks Landeskog’s head.”
This is not the first time Sutton has delivered a questionable hit, nor was it the first time he’s been suspended.
There was this hit on Pittsburgh’s Pascal Dupuis (which earned Sutton a two-game suspension):
There was also this hit against Pittsburgh’s Jordan Leopold (which probably would earn him a suspension today):
You could essentially spend the entire afternoon looking at devastating Andy Sutton hits on YouTube. There are that many. In this light, it’s highly unlikely Sutton or anybody from the Oilers organization is going to complain about the five-game sentence, even if it does leave Edmonton scrambling for defensemen. Sutton joins Cam Barker (shoulder) and Ryan Whitney (knee) on the list of Oilers blueliners currently unavailable.
As for the particulars: Sutton already served one game of the suspension, so he’ll miss Edmonton’s next four games (L.A., Phoenix, Montreal, Boston.) He’ll also forfeit $57,432.45 of salary, which will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.