There’s a chance the Flames will be without one of their best defencemen for a bit.
The Flames were informed by the NHL Department of Player Safety that defenceman Rasmus Andersson will have a phone hearing in regards to his hit on Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine last night. During the final seconds of Calgary’s 3-1 loss to Columbus, Laine was carrying the puck through centre ice when he was hit by Andersson. Laine passed the puck and while with his head still down, Andersson lined him up, slightly left his feet and leveled the unsuspecting Laine. Andersson’s elbow was up and made contact with Laine’s head. According to the Blue Jackets Laine isn’t traveling with the team today to Minnesota.
With the news portion of this out of the way, let’s look at the actual play.
It’s pretty clear the Andersson got his elbow up and drilled Laine in the head. The game was literally ending when Rasmus Andersson lowered the boom and it was dirty, classless and there was no need for it. The “he knows better and should keep his head up” crowd are disgusting. You are out of your mind if you think this is “clean” or a “hockey play.” Big hits are fine, those are part of the game. Huge hits that involve players getting elbowed in the head by a guy leaving his feet as a game ends have NO place in the game.
Let’s also state that this game had some “chippiness” prior to the hit and then after as well. Nazem Kadri got worked over in a first period fight with Cole Sillinger and after the Andersson hit Jonathan Huberdeau was hit with a 10 minute misconduct and Erik Gudbranson received a roughing penalty for his efforts.
Ramus Andersson is usually a stand up guy that plays solid defence, has a cannon for a shot and is a leader on this team, so much so his name was in the running for being the newest Flames captain. We like Rasmus Andersson a lot. He doesn’t have a history of being a dirty player who plays on the edge. With that said, this is ABSOLUTELY suspension worthy. What Andersson did last night was uncalled for and a predatory hit (in our opinion). According to NHL rules if a player receives a phone call for their hearing it carries the potential of a maximum five game suspension. With the way the Flames have been playing in the D end lately they can ill afford to lose anyone, especially someone with Andersson’s skill set. However, it certainly looks like Calgary’s blue line will be down an important cog for a least a few games, meaning Jordan Oesterle will probably tag back in.
Rasmus Andersson has put himself and Flames in a bind, while at the same time injuring one of the NHL’s solid players in Patrik Laine. It’s not a good look for Andersson by any stretch of the imagination and the player and team have to be hoping the looming suspension is on the lighter side. Full disclosure? He should get the max suspension for that hit. It was blatantly dirty and in an era where players brains are a priority (as they should be), this hit needs to be made an example of.