Avs’ Kadri Offered In-Person Hearing From Department of Player Safety

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has offered Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri an in-person hearing for an illegal check to the head in Wednesday night’s game.

The incident occurred with just over 13 minutes to go in the third period. With the St. Louis Blues trailing 3-1, defenceman Justin Faulk took a pass just inside the blueline and was almost instantly hit directly to the hit by Kadri. The vicious check left him lying on the ice momentarily before he was able to gather himself and skate off the ice, however he was forced to go to the quiet room and did not return. Kadri was given a five-minute major and a match penalty for an illegal hit to the head.

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Discipline Issues

This isn’t the first time we have seen Kadri do something predatory, and is why he is being offered an in-person hearing. An in-person hearing gives the league an option to suspend him six or more games, which will surely be the case here. It will also mark the third time in four years he has been suspended in the first-round of the playoffs.

His other two playoff suspensions both came against the Bruins. The first was a dangerous boarding hit on Tommy Wingels which resulted in a three-game suspension, and the second came just one year later when he delivered a cross check to the face of Jake Debrusk. This incident forced the Department of Player Safety to rule him out for the remainder of the first-round.

Kadri Likely Done for the Series

With this series already being two games in, Kadri won’t be back until at least the second-round. The fortunate thing for him is that his team is up 2-0 on the Blues, but this is still a big loss. Despite his lack of discipline, he is a very good player at both ends of the ice and will need to be at his best if this Avs team has a shot at winning the Stanley Cup this year.

Game 3 between these two will take place Friday night, and is sure to be another intense matchup. While the Avalanche have won both games by three goals, they have been much closer contests than the scores show. This next one may be the best yet of the series as it is widely considered a must win for the Blues.

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