Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman will apparently miss time after the big blueliner ran into and injured linesman Don Henderson during a game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night. Wideman will be suspended indefinitely by the NHL pending a post-All-Star game hearing, according to Darren Dreger of TSN.
Indefinite suspension for Wideman pending post All Star hearing.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) January 28, 2016
As a result of the collision, which left many wondering whether it was intentional or not, Henderson was reportedly "in the hospital until 5 a.m." dealing with neck pain and nausea.
Wideman apologized for the hit, which you can see here, immediately after the game.
"I took a pretty hard hit down in the corner and had some pretty good pain in my shoulder and my neck and I was just trying to get off the ice," Wideman said after the game, per Frank Seravalli of TSN. "I was kind of keeled over and at the last second, I looked up and I saw him and I couldn't avoid it."
But as Seravalli noted, Rule 40 indicates that the league will be forced to suspended Wideman no less than 10 games.
Response to the incident has varied. Former NHL referee Kerry Fraser told Craig Custance of ESPN that he "hated" what happened and expressed anger initially toward Wideman, but admitted that he understood why the incident took place.
"All of a sudden, it's a wake-up call, like he wasn't aware of his environment or seeing Henderson ahead of him," Fraser said. "It's a quick little move with his hips and his skates to the right, but not enough to avoid contact. At that point, he assumes a defensive posture in raising his hands. It becomes defensive to avoid contact, a natural instinct for a player."
Others, like an unnamed former player, told Custance that he believed it to be an accident, while a Western Conference executive called Wideman's actions "dirty, unnecessary, on purpose and suspendable."
