By Allan Muir

Pretty much everyone who saw Lars Eller lying face down in a pool of his own blood on Thursday night was horrified by the results of Eric Gryba’s devastating open ice hit. But there weren’t many, outside of Montreal loyalists who looked at that collision and thought it was the sort of play that needed to be eliminated from the NHL.

Apparently that number swelled by at least one today as the Ottawa defender was handed a two-game suspension by Brendan Shanahan for what he called an “illegal check to the head of Eller.”

No doubt this was a tough call for the NHL’s chief disciplinarian. Arguably the toughest he’d faced all season. Despite the injury suffered by Eller, there was no black or white in this incident. Watch the replay a dozen times and you won’t see incontrovertible proof of Eller’s head being the primary point of contact – -or of an innocent hit gone awry — unless that’s exactly what you’re looking to see.

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By Allan Muir

If the NHL’s Department of Player Safety updates their instructional videos over the summer, Nate Thompson might want to request a copy for posterity. There’s a better than zero chance the Tampa Bay forward will have a starring role.

Thompson was dinged Saturday afternoon for two games after delivering a textbook head shot on New Jersey’s Matt D’Agostini on Friday night.

Hard to believe he was able to mount much of a defense. The case was a clear violation of Rule 48. As Sheriff Shanny noted, Thompson “recklessly target[ed] D’Agostini’s head by extending up and making it the principle point of contact.”

The evidence was pretty damning — I mean, Thompson was eyeing his target all the way and clearly had the chance to use the body instead of throwing a brutally obvious elbow — but D’Agostini wasn’t hurt on the play. And since that element clearly weighs heavily in all DPS deliberations, there wasn’t going to be a book thrown today.

Not sure a message has been sent here, but it was far from the dirtiest hit of the year. Since five of the previous 12 suspensions this season have gone for a pair of games, this call is probably just about right.

By Allan Muir

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety found its missing teeth — soaking in a glass of lukewarm water and Poli-Dent, no doubt — and slapped them into its gaping maw just in time to take a two-game bite out of Alexander Edler’s season.

In the wake of the Rick Nash decision earlier in the day, it was reasonable to assume an air of leniency had descended over the DPS and Edler might be given a cookie, a glass of warm milk and a kiss goodnight for his troubles.

Instead, the Canucks defender was handed a suspension for his charge on Coyotes goalie Mike Smith that falls in line with what Andrew Shaw earned for his hit on Smith in last year’s playoffs…and one that’s two games more than Milan Lucic got for bowling over Ryan Miller in open ice earlier that season.

Crazy, ain’t it?

In his explanatory video, the DPS’ Rob Blake quoted NHL Rule 42: “A goalkeeper is not ‘fair game’ just because he is outside the goal crease area… However, incidental contact, at the discretion of the Referee, will be permitted when the goalkeeper is in the act of playing the puck outside his goal crease provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.”

“While we agree that Alex Edler has no malicious intent on this play,” Blake added, “we believe he does not make any effort to minimize or avoid contact.”

Fair enough. Edler didn’t even think about avoiding contact, so he’s dead to rights there. I’d argue he made contact with Smith’s chest, rather than his head as Blake also mentions, but I’m not even sure that matters here. Smith wasn’t able to return to action and he’s dealing with what the team called whiplash, so factor the injury along with the charge and Edler was destined for civvies.

The decision tastes sour after the Nash pardon, but on its own merits it seems like a reasonable result. And since looking for a precedent in previous decisions has become a fool’s errand, that’s probably the best we can hope for.

UPDATE: A league executive phoned (way too early) this morning to say that the Lucic/Miller incident sparked a renewed commitment from the league to protect goaltenders and so it wasn’t an ideal point of comparison to the Edler hit. That’s a fair point, so it was worth including here. It doesn’t, however, alter the overarching context that the DPS’ reactions to the Nash/Edler incidents reinforces the existing perception that DPS lacks coherent standards.

By Allan Muir

Good thing the Maple Leafs know how to play without Joffrey Lupul. They could be doing a bit more of it very soon.

Lupul, who just returned to action Saturday after missing the last two months of the season with a broken arm, is all but certain to be suspended after a flagrant elbow to the noggin of Tampa defender Victor Hedman Wednesday night.

This head shot was so blatant it’s sure to end up on the league’s how-not-to video compilation.

Was the hit late? Check.

Was the head the principal point of contact? Check.

Did his skates leave the ice prior to the hit? Oh yeah, they do.

The only mitigating factor in Lupul’s defense is that Hedman, though clearly dazed in the aftermath, was able to return to action later in the period. Hopefully he won’t have any late-onset symptoms in the next 24 hours.

As for Lupul, well, the timing couldn’t have been worse. He was brilliant in his return on Saturday, netting a pair of goals against the Jets, and scored the opening tally in Toronto’s 4-2 win over the Bolts tonight. He was clearly feeling it after that lengthy layoff. Now he’s likely to be out for 2-3 games, which would include a critical home-and-home duet with the Boston Bruins.

And speaking of bad timing: It’s probably best not to knock the block off an opponent when Gary Bettman, Colin Campbell and half of the NHL’s heirarchy are in the building.

Repeat offender Patrick Kaleta was lucky to get off so lightly for this hit on Brad Richards. (Bruce Benett/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

It’s clear that Brendan Shanahan hit Patrick Kaleta a lot harder than the Buffalo winger hit Brad Richards.

So why does the five-game suspension that Shanahan imposed on Monday afternoon feel like a slap on the wrist?

Not that anyone should be surprised by this verdict, especially in the wake of last week’s soft touch fine handed down to Dallas’ Jamie Benn. Shanny telegraphed this decision when he offered Kaleta a phone hearing, a format that ensured the sentence couldn’t be more than five games. That’s a significant number because a provision in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement allows a player to appeal any suspension above that level to an independent arbitrator.

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By Allan Muir

The two-game suspension handed to San Jose winger Ryane Clowe won’t make everyone happy, but go ahead and chalk this one up for NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan. It looks like he made another fair call.

HACKEL: Shanahan should explain no-ban calls, too

Clowe was called on the carpet after engaging Andrew Shaw late in last Friday’s game against the Blackhawks. Clowe took exception to a hard hit Shaw laid on San Jose’s Joe Pavelski and hopped over the boards to discourage him from taking future liberties.

There was pushing and shoving, but no punches were thrown, earning him a roughing minor. But Clowe also picked up a game misconduct for leaving the bench, resulting in an indefinite suspension from the league pending a hearing.

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