Illegal hits shouldn’t be taken lightly whether it’s in the NFL or the NHL. The NHL took action today by suspending forward Shane Doan of the Phoenix Coyotes for a total of three games due to an illegal, blindside hit to the Anaheim Ducks’ Dan Sexton’s head. Along with this three-game suspension that Doan was handed by the NHL, he is also going to lose a chunk of his salary – more than $73,000.

The hit initially came in Sunday night’s game, in which the Phoenix Coyotes lost 3-2. Referees can call these illegal hits during the game and issue in-game penalties, but many do not. This was the case for this hit – Doan wasn’t penalized during the game but instead after the game.

The good news here is that Sexton was okay and didn’t suffer an injury – he even remained active in the game. He could have very possibly suffered a concussion, which is something that all NHL players fear as it normally means the end to their season. If it’s not an end to their season, they miss a significant amount of games during recovery as tests must be passed before returning to the ice. Concussions can take a few weeks to recover from; however, it can also take up to a year, such as with Andreas Lilja.

Doan will miss three games – Los Angeles, Carolina and Montreal – due to the suspension and will be eligible to return to the ice on October 26 against Ottawa. This is the third punishment to come this year due to illegal hits – Chicago’s Niklas Hjalmarsson was suspended for two games for a behind hit to Jason Pominville of Buffalo and Nick Foligno, forward for Ottawa, received a $2,500 fine for an illegal head hit to Patrick Dwyer, forward for Carolina.

The NHL and other sports leagues should really crack down harder on hits to the head. I realize that they just endorsed this ban of blindside hits to the head but a two or three-game suspension isn’t always going to cut it.

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