Marco Scandella Fined for Hit on T.J. Oshie

Marco Scandella has been fined $2,755.38 by the Department of Player Safety for an illegal check to the head of Blues forward T.J. Oshie that came in Saturday’s shootout loss to St. Louis. (Just hours after his five-year, $20 million contract extension was announced.)

This fine seems like a fair punishment for the hit. Oshie missed the rest of the first period, but returned to the game and has been practicing with the Blues since then, which means that there’s less of a chance that late-appearing concussion symptom are going to crop up. (Though I’m not a fan of this, the resulting injury is generally a factor in the decision to suspend and for how long that suspension will be.)

It didn’t look like an intentional hit to the head, but was the kind of hit the league wants to see go away, so a fine and no suspension makes sense. It also has the effect of making Scandella a repeat offender if another incident should occur.

take a look at the hit below, courtesy of @myregularface.

…and if you’re wondering about the very specific dollar amount, Russo explains:

For his part, Oshie doesn’t seem thrilled about the hit (seems fair). As you might remember, the final Blues vs. Wild match last year ended Oshie’s regular season after he took a shot to the head from Mike Rupp.

Oshie talked about it today and Blues beat writer Jeremy Rutherford talked about it: