Jori Lehtera open ice hit, suspendable?

[Leafsdude7]

Interference, headshot, elbow? With that trifecta, I'd like to think so. Considering Kunitz didn't get one for a similar play a few days ago makes me uncertain, though.

 

[HugginThePost]

Ugly.....

 

[Pointteen]

Hate to see stuff like this.
Didn't need to happen. Both players in bad spots.

 

[The Worst One]

Unfortunate hit. But not suspension worthy.

 

[TooManyHumans]

The way he moves the elbow seemingly intentionally to hit him in the head makes it look really bad. If he hadn't pulled the elbow back like that it wouldn't seem nearly as bad.

 

[Rich Nixon]

please for the love of god suspend him

 

[Howie Hodge]

Intentional? Yes.

A penalty? Yes.

Brutal? I think that's a stretch.

 

[cliffclaven]

20 games. #newnhl

 

[Limeyjim]

Please suspend him! I'm so tired of watching him on the active roster, and Hakstol continues to put him in the line up.
Suspend him and send him back to Finland!

 

[Flyers1928]

kick him off the tour doug!!

 

[pown]

You can't do that

 

[Satastic]

Yeah he may have been reaching for the puck, but the extended elbow makes it suspension worthy imo. If he kept it tucked it’d be more debatable

 

[Hapiii]

Suspend him for the rest of the season.

 

[Esko6]

He moved out his elbow just a little bit but it would have been nothing had not Bjorkstrand kneeled.

 

[BritainStix]

Dumb by both players. Allthough we will be over the moon if the league suspends him. Slowest skater in the NHL

 

[Hint1k]

Well, that's the intentional headshot with the elbow. Luckily, the impact was not big enough, so I assume there was no injury. Anyway, it still should be a suspension. My guess: 1-2 games.

 

[Beville]

There’s defending yourself with your elbow and then there’s purposely throwing it out.

Suspendable in my opinion... either that or elbows aren’t high on the DoPS list.

 

[HammerTime44]

Suspend his drug lord a** for the rest of the season.

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

It's a tough call, for me. Bjorkstrand lowers his head by a good foot immediately preceding the hit. I don't think Lehtera expected that at all.

Close call.

This is where I'm at

Body position is low by Bjork. But the elbow flared a bit.

Close for sure.

 

[Vikke]

Should be suspended for a very long time. Very dirty hit.

 

[Rich Nixon]

Seriously can we petition the league to suspend the guy? Tweet campaign? You gotta help us out here.

 

[Jray42]

Absolutely brutal. I, for one, call on the league to suspend him for the rest of the season.

 

[CapnZin]

They, announcers, said that since he didn’t completely chicken wing Bjorkstand, the league won’t look at it- meaning he didn’t fully extend his elbow to make contact with the face.

Still dirty nonetheless. Penalty for illegal check to the head. I think we should get Parros to, you know, make him sit for the remainder ~60 games.

 

[compan]

If it wasn't for the elbow coming out, I'd say he could catch a break for hitting a player changing his level at the last second. But that elbow doesn't look good.

 

[elwin316]

Reminded me of Steve Moore's hit on Naslund. League is different now though, probably suspension worthy this time around.