Shanahan Drops the Hammer: Hagelin Suspended for Three Games & Carkner for One

The wrath of Brendan Shanahan has been felt.

New York Rangers forward Carl Hagelin has been suspended by the NHL for three games for elbowing Daniel Alfredsson in the head and that Senators defenceman Matt Carkner has been suspended one game for repeatedly punching Brian Boyle in the face his tremendous shitkicking of Brian Boyle.

Of course, thanks to the whimsical nature of the NHL’s disciplinary decisions, no one was entirely confident in what kinds of punishment, if any, would be handed out to either of the aforementioned players.But now that the decisions have been rendered, we can dissect what each of these mean to either club.

When Paul MacLean’s Pete DeBoer’esque starting lineup was announced as Matt Carkner, Jared Cowen, Zenon Konopka, Chris Neil and Zack Smith, the message was clear: if you take liberties with Erik Karlsson or another one of our elite players, you’re going to have your face caved in. We can endlessly debate whether we’re celebrating Carkner’s actions or the results of last night’s game, but during that five minute major handed to Carkner, you could see the residual intensity and effort levels increase. While every guy on that bench desperately wanted to kill every second of that major for the well-liked veteran and what he did, perhaps no one raised their game more than Boyle’s victim, Erik Karlsson.

Coincidence?

Maybe.

Was Carkner’s major penalty the turning point of the game?

Definitely not.

Nevertheless, it certainly gave the Senators some of that swagger and confidence that they had seemingly lost in game one and from that standpoint, his one game suspension is/was well worth it.

Despite the uncertainty of Daniel Alfredsson’s return to the series, some are saying that he will be a game-time decision tomorrow night, we cannot overlook the significant effects of Hagelin’s absence from the Rangers’ lineup.

As Scott (@Wham_City) pointed out on Twitter by alluding to a Copper and Blue post, the Rangers are a far more potent team with Hagelin in the lineup. Albeit, the following numbers were taken on February 1st and obviously a number of regular season games have been played since, but here they are nonetheless:

Here’s Shanahan’s video explanation of Hagelin’s suspension:

When reached for comment, Hagelin was at a loss for words.

And finally, here is Shanahan’s video explanation of Carkner’s suspension:

Black Aces

After Mark Stone revealed on Twitter that he would arrive in Ottawa today, with the conclusion of the Binghamton Senators’ regular season, he’ll now be joined by Robin Lehner, Mark Borowiecki, Eric Gryba, Patrick Wiercioch, Andre Petersson and Mika Zibanejad.