John Moore Suspended Five Games For Hit on Erik Haula

New York Rangers defenseman John Moore has been suspended for five games following a hit on the Minnesota Wild’s Erik Haula in a game on Monday, October 27.

As we discussed previously Moore has a history and has in fact delivered a hit to the head of a player twice in his last 14 games. It was a dirty hit to the head and the suspension is deserved.

Get details on the ruling from the Department of Player Safety in the below video:

I still think it’s too bad the an injury is such a big factor in determining suspensions. It makes sense to punish a team for hurting another team and player long-term, but the potential danger for injury to a player should be a bigger factor. Injury status should lengthen suspension, maybe, and not play a factor in whether or not there will be one at all.

When Chris Kreider wasn’t giving a hearing for his hit on Jonas Brodin we weren’t given a reason why there wasn’t going to be a hearing on an ugly boarding call. Many insiders cited that Brodin returned to the game and “wasn’t injured” on the play. But the Wild were without him Tuesday against Boston as he was dealing with injuries from that hit. Not only should the possibility for injury play a bigger factor, but we don’t always know how bad an injury really is by the time the DoPS is making a decision to have a hearing or not.