In its continued effort to make the game safer around the league and to crack down on repeat offenders, the NHL has decided to suspend Buffalo Sabres enforcer John Scott indefinitely following his blindside hit to the head of Boston Bruins forward Loui Eriksson Wednesday night in Buffalo's 5-2 defeat.
The NHL offers a hearing for suspensions that are longer than five games and Scott has been invited to attend one, though a date has not been set according to ESPN.
Scott defended his style of play and said he had no intentions of injuring Eriksson during the play, and even said he texted him to apologize.
"I don't think I'm a dirty player. I try to play within the code and within the rules," he said after the team's practice at First Niagara Center on Thursday, according to ESPN. "This is my first suspension and I don't think I'm a dirty player. I don't try to be a dirty player. I feel really upset. I was sick to my stomach last night knowing what happened and watching the video, I just kind of regret the situation. I don't want to be a dirty player."
Scott's suspension was announced on the same day that commissioner Gary Bettman issued a 17-page detailed description of why he turned down Scott's teammate Patrick Kaleta's appeal of a 10-game suspension he received for a hit to the head of Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson.
Bettman noted that things such as Kaleta's status as a repeat offender after being suspended three times and the fact that Kaleta could have avoided hitting Johnson altogether factored into the decision to uphold the 10-game ban.
"I do conclude that he could have and should have avoided the hit altogether," Bettman wrote per ESPN. "As [Director of Player Safety] Mr. [Brendan] Shanahan testified at the hearing, 'I think there was also the option of not throwing the check. That [is] always an option.'"
Kaleta wasn't penalized on the play and Johnson was back out for his next shift, but Bettman and Shanahan decided his repeat offender status warranted a harsh punishment.
Scott's suspension came after Eriksson skated through the neutral zone and dumped the puck into the Sabres' territory. Scott charged at Eriksson and struck him with a shoulder to the head. Scott was penalized with a charging call and ejected from the game following the hit. Eriksson left the game and didn't return. He missed Thursday night's victory against the San Jose Sharks because the team sent him back to Boston with concussion symptoms and announced that he is out indefinitely.
The Sabres are in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 1-9-1 record and just three points on the year, good enough for the most losses in the league and the least amount of points.
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