Johansson Suspended

On Friday, the NHL Department of Player Safety came down on Washington forward Marcus Johansson for his high hit on Long Island defenseman Thomas Hickey on Thursday night.  The hit, with the head being the main point of contact, instead of going through the body, has earned the Swedish scoring forward a 2-game ban and he will miss the weekend's action, Saturday night in New York and Sunday night, home to Ottawa.

The takeaway from the league's video, which is posted below, is pretty straight-forward, the hit was unnecessarily high and since Johansson isn't necessarily considered to be a dirty player, meaning no previous incidents, fines or suspensions, he's getting off a little easier than some hits that have earned players 3-game suspensions.

It's probably fair to think that his offense may be missed over the weekend, as he has 10 goals and 26 points in 39 games for the Capitals, which has him ranked 113th overall in pool scoring, a ranking that won't likely suffer too badly, missing the next two nights worth of action.

Brenda & Seward, our pool leaders, may think a little differently, as they carry a 7-point lead into Saturday's action and a couple games from Johansson could have certainly helped to guard the lead or possibly increase it.  Their team is left with only 13 projected games to be played this weekend, while 2nd place, Jeremy's team, has 18 games to try and whittle down that lead.

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