Ovechkin Suspended Two Games - Campbell Out for the Season

This must be the year of the questionable hit on the Chinese calendar. It seems like this year, more than any other, we have seen dirty hit after dirty hit and sever injuries as a result.

Everywhere from junior hockey, where Ben Fanelli’s career was quite possibly ended on a hit from Michael Liambas (see video below) to all the questionable checks we’ve seen in the NHL.

The latest hit to stir up controversy, and unfortunately cause a serious injury, involves Washington Capitals’ star Alex Ovechkin. The league has acted quickly in suspending the NHL’s leading goal scorer for two games for Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brian Campbell.

Ovechkin was given a major penalty for boarding and a game misconduct on the play which happened in the first period of Washington’s 4-3 overtime win on Sunday. Thanks to the dirty hit, Campbell is going to miss the rest of the regular season with an upper-body injury that is rumoured to be a broken clavicle as well as some broken ribs.

NHL vice-president Colin Campbell broke the news to Ovechkin via a disciplinary hearing on Monday, the second time this season he’s received a two game suspension. He was guilty of a knee-on-knee hit against Carolina’s Tim Gleason in November and has been involved in a few other questionable plays that have gone un-disciplined. Besides the suspensions, a result of all these reckless plays has resulted in his name getting tossed around with some of the notoriously dirty players in the NHL. Not exactly the company he wants to be mentioned with.

“He has the reputation that he plays hard,” Capitals winger Mike Knuble told the Post on Monday, before the suspension was announced. “But things seem to be happening around him. You would like to see him being more careful because, No. 1, you don’t want to see him hurt himself and, No. 2, so he doesn’t miss games — for our benefit.”

From a financial standpoint, Ovechkin will miss out on US$232,645.40 in salary, with the money going to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. From an on ice standpoint, the Capitals are losing the league’s leading scorer who has 44 goals and 52 assists in 61 games.

If the Capitals had to pick a two game stretch to lose their leading scorer, this might have been it. They kick off a Southeast swing on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers and will then play Carolina on Thursday. Ovechkin will be eligible to return for the game against Tampa Bay on Saturday.

As for Brian Campbell, he will be sorely missed by the Blackhawks who already had question marks on their blue line. So far on the season, he has seven goals and 31 assists in 68 games. What is more important is that he had been averaging 23:13 in ice time per game, third on the team behind only Olympians Duncan Keith (26:45) and Brent Seabrook (23:37).

With the Hawks in a heated race with the San Jose Sharks for the Western Conference regular season title, this injury will take an immediate toll. Looking ahead to the playoffs, this will be a huge loss for Chicago and a hit that will be revisited numerous times over the next few months.