NHL commissioner Gary Bettman upheld Rasmus Andersson’s four-game suspension on Tuesday, one day after hearing the appeal from the Calgary Flames defenseman.
Andersson received the ban Sunday for a hit against Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine during the Flames’ 3-1 loss on Friday in Columbus. The incident occurred as the final horn sounded, when he lowered the boom on Laine as the latter was attempting to score into an empty net.
Andersson was whistled for a major penalty for elbowing Laine, who did not travel with the Blue Jackets for their game against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. Columbus said he is day-to-day.
The NHL said Andersson’s launch with his elbow toward Laine’s head, the force of the hit and that the game effectively was out of reach at the time “combined to elevate this hit to the level of supplemental discipline” in its video explaining the reasoning for the suspension on Saturday.
Bettman wrote in his ruling that the NHL Players’ Association was seeking a reduction of the suspension from four games to three.
“Given the nature and circumstances of the hit, I find that any mitigating factors here are insufficient to warrant a reduction in the department of Player Safety’s discipline,” Bettman wrote.
Andersson will forfeit nearly $95,000 in pay for the duration of the suspension, which will keep him out of Saturday’s Heritage Classic against the rival Oilers outdoors at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
He is eligible to return Nov. 1 against Dallas.
Andersson, 26, has three points (one goal, two assists) in five games this season. He has 164 points (28 goals, 136 assists) and 187 penalty minutes in 382 games with the Flames, who drafted him in the second round in 2015.
–Field Level Media