NHL hands down St. Louis Blues' Forward Chris Stewart 3 game suspension -NHL News Update
Chris Stewart, the St. Louis Blues 24-year-old right winger, was the latest player to be handed down a suspension by the National Hockey League’s (NHL) senior vice president for player safety and hockey operations, Brendan Shanahan, on Wednesday, November 16, 2011.
Stewart was suspended for a three-game period by the NHL’s disciplinarian for his hit on the Detroit Red Wings defenseman, Niklas Kronwall, during their matchup on Tuesday, November 15, which the Blues won, 2-1, for their second straight victory.
"The onus is on Stewart to avoid this hit completely or at the very least minimize it", league disciplinarian, Brendan Shanahan, said in a video explanation.
The incident occurred when Stewart hit the defenceless player, Kronwall in this case, from behind into the boards, which is a new rule implemented the 2011-2012 NHL regular season and has resulted in a number of suspensions thus far.
"Stewart is directly behind Kronwall and sees his numbers for quite some time," Shanahan added. "This does not appear to us to be an attempt to reverse hit Stewart, and it is our opinion that Kronwall does not contribute significantly to the violent collision with the boards that results from the shove from behind by Stewart.
The illegal hit was caught during the first period of their matchup and will also result in Stewart forfeiting, $46, 621.62, of his salary, which will be added to the player’s emergency assistance fund.
St. Louis Blues general manager, Doug Armstrong, accepting the ruling and agreed with Shanahan’s decision, saying that it was something that was very clearly seen, but since Stewart is a honest and hard player, he most likely will not be in this situation when he makes a comeback on the team.
Before actually being handed down the suspension, Chris Stewart, was given a chance to defend himself before the announcement was made and according to Armstrong, who was also a part of their conference call on Wednesday, the player was very cooperative and understanding.
Chris Stewart will be able to make his debut after missing three games when the St. Louis Blues visit the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, November 23, 2011. He will certainly be looking forward and in the meanwhile, has time to train.
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