On Sunday evening, word surfaced that the NHL offered Detroit Red Wings forward Gustav Nyquist an in-person hearing for high-sticking Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon. The Department of Player Safety released an update that Nyquist declined that face-to-face discussion.
With that, they’ll instead speak to Nyquist about it via a telephone hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
(The Red Wings face the St. Louis Blues at Joe Louis Arena in a game that will be televised on NBCSN that evening.)
Normally, a telephone hearing would set a ceiling for a suspension at five games while an in-person meeting could result in a punishment of six-or-more. This is an exception, as Nyquist was obviously offered a chance to tell his side of the story in person.
Nyquist said he was happy to see Spurgeon return to the game and that while he claimed that he didn’t mean to strike him viciously with that high-sticking infraction, he also conceded to the Detroit Free Press that “I’ve got to have better control of my stick.”
Check out more on that incident in the video below.