Martin Hanzal suspension: 2 games for charging Jeff Petry

The incident occurred mid-way through the first period of Phoenix’s’ 5-4 win and resulted in Hanzal receiving a two-minute minor for charging. As a result of the suspension Hanzal will lose $75,609.76 in salary.

Hanzal, 26, was Phoenix’s first-round pick (No. 17 overall) in 2005 and has developed into one of the better defensive forwards in the NHL. Even though he isn’t always known for his offense (his career-high for goals is 16, and for points is 35) he has been off to the best start of his career point-wise and has already scored five goals to go with six assists in his first 11 games for the Coyotes this season. He scored a goal in Saturday’s game.

Here is Brendan Shanahan’s explanation of the hit and the reasoning behind the league’s decision. Hanzal had a hearing with the NHL earlier on Monday.

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