:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/57763049/872997644.jpg.0.jpg)
Today the NHL has announced that Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog has been suspended for 4 games after cross-checking Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk in the head in Saturday’s game.
Um, Gabriel Landeskog should probably get a call from the DOPS for this cross check pic.twitter.com/c7evKANOF5
— Scott Matla (@scottmatla) November 26, 2017
The Department of Player Safety issued this message on the incident:
From the clips above, it’s pretty clear Landeskog hit Tkachuk in the head. This isn’t a grey area call, and it’s far from Landeskog’s only brush with the Department of Player Safety:
February 28th, 2015: Fined $5,000 for throwing a punch at Mikko Koivu while on the bench.
November 12th, 2015: Suspended 2 games for an illegal check to the head on Brad Marchand.
March 9th, 2016: Suspended 3 games for cross-checking Simon Despres.
Landeskog will sit for the next 4 games. Here’s how the Avalanche could look without him:
Sven Andrighetto - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen
Tyson Jost - JT Compher - Alex Kerfoot
Matt Nieto - Carl Soderberg - Blake Comeau
Gabriel Bourque - Dominic Toninato - Nail Yakupov
Landeskog will not play again until the Avalanche travel to Tampa Bay on December 7th to take on the Lightning.