With 3:27 left in tonight’s game against Anaheim, Ducks‘ winger Bobby Ryan got involved in a board battle behind the Nashville net with Predators‘ defenseman Jonathon Blum. With Blum pinned by Ryan against the board and neither player able to reach the puck, Ryan stomped on Blums’ foot with the blade of his skate.
The stomp had nothing to do with the play and was clearly deliberate. Chris Pronger received an 8-game suspension for stomping on Ryan Kesler‘s foot in 2008, so this incident should at least merit Ryan missing the rest of the series.
UPDATE: As Paul Nicholson pointed out on Twitter, there was also an incident where Chris Simon did something similar to Jarkko Ruutu (here’s the YouTube clip). Simon got 30 games for this, although he was a repeat offender when it comes to supplementary discipline. Bobby Ryan will have a hearing with the NHL Saturday afternoon, per Nick Kypreos.
View the .GIF of the stomp after the jump and decide for yourself:
If the .gif below doesn’t work well for you, a video has been posted on YouTube.
Should Ryan be suspended?
| Yes | 680 |
| No | 292 |