According to the NHL Department of Player Safety, Joffrey Lupul has been fined $10,000 and will not be suspended for his crosscheck to the head of Patrick Eaves during the Winter Classic.
Here’s the video of the hit for reference.
Despite the fact that Lupul is a repeat offender (he was suspended 2 games back in March for a hit to the head of Tampa Bay’s Victor Hedman), and his crosscheck to Eaves’ jaw was completely unnecessary, dangerous, and malicious, he will be fined a measly 00.19% of his salary this year and that’s it.
Eaves suffered a dislocated jaw and missed the remainder of the game. He was able to skate today (wearing a jaw shield) and may play against Dallas on Saturday night.
If the Department of Player safety releases a non-suspension explanation video, we’ll update the post.
What Lupul did wasn’t a result of a hockey play, it was retaliation for getting hit by Kindl. That doesn’t excuse what he did, and “hey that guy hit me, so I’ll crosscheck this other guy in the head” is a pig dung way to think. I think the DPS failed on this decision, because this is the type of dangerous, unnecessary crap that needs to be taken out of the game, in order to preserve player safety, and giving him a small fine for his actions will teach Lupul nothing.
I’m very disappointed, but not really surprised.
