MINNEAPOLIS— A Nashville Predators forward whose illegal hit, injured Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon has been suspended for several games.
The NHL hearing for Zachary L’Heureux took place Thursday afternoon, according to the league’s Department of Player Safety. L’Heureux has been suspended without pay for three matches.
L’Heureux will lose just under $13,500, under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement and based on his average annual salary. The money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
L’Heureux received a match penalty between both teams in the second period New Year’s Eve matchup when he brought down Spurgeon behind the Wild’s goal.
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The NHL defined L’Heureux’s act as “slew-footing,” which according to the league’s rulebook is “the act of a player using his leg or foot to knock or kick an opponent’s feet out from under him, or pushes an opponent’s upper body backwards. with an arm or elbow, and at the same time with a forward movement of his leg, punches or kicks the opponent’s feet from under him, causing him to fall violently onto the ice.
Slew-footing is an automatic match penalty. Although he was only suspended from the NHL on Thursday, L’Heureux was suspended four times in one season while playing for Hailifax in the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League, according to the Predators.
Spurgeon was ruled out of Tuesday’s game due to a lower-body injury after the hit. After the game, Wild head coach John Hynes said he had no further information on the extent of the injury. Hynes called it a “cheap hit” and “undisciplined play.”
