Brendan Smith Suspended Five Games For Hit On Ben Smith

The hit, in which Brendan caught Ben with a shoulder directly to the head, occurred in Wednesday night’s game between the two clubs. You can view video of it here. Brendan was handed a five minute major penalty and a game misconduct on the play in accordance with Rule 48, which states that any hit to the head must come with such a penalty.

Brendan Smith will likely be sent to the AHL, and as has been the case with other suspensions this preseason, it’s likely that the AHL will honor at least some of the ban. NHL suspensions are only served while players are on NHL rosters, however, so whenever Smith returns to the Wings roster (or any other NHL roster, for that matter), he’ll have to serve the five-game ban before taking the ice.

This is the literal definition of Rule 48, governing an illegal hit to the head. There are questions on whether or not the impact to the head was intentional or not, but the rule doesn’t make a distinction between intentional or not.

The distinction comes in on whether or not a match penalty is assessed.