Since he was picked up on the waiver wire from the Calgary Flames in October 2015, Paul Byron has become an important part of the Montreal Canadiens. The diminutive winger (5 feet 9 inches) has played 397 games in the NHL so far and has 80 goals and 82 assists to show for it for a total of 162 which is rather good for a player that was picked 179th overall by the Sabres at the 2007 NHL entry draft. He had a carrer year in 2016-2017 when he racked up 43 points and he's showed time and time again that he's ready to do anything the team needs him to do. Be it play on the 4th line or fill in on the 1st with all the pressure that comes with it, Byron is your man. He's also often used as a penalty killer and he's got 7 shorthanded goal so far in his career (6 of which were scored in the Canadiens uniform). Now signed to a 4 year contract extension worth 3.4 M per year, Byron is an assistant captain and has come a long way since being claimed off waivers.
Now, here's the video of Tuesday's incident:
From a certain angle, it doesn't look that bad to be honest but flip the camera, and you can clearly see that Byron's skates leave the ice and that he jumps into the hit, making MacKenzie Weegar's head the point of contact of the hit. Knowing the type of player Byron is, he didn't mean to injure the Panthers' player and my guess is he jumped into the hit not to go for the head but just to hit the player with more impact. As I've said before, he is quite short and perhaps that's why he jumped like that. Had he not hit Weegar's head, there wouldn't have been an issue but when it comes to head it, the player's skates must not leave the ice and the rule is the same for everyone whether you are as tall as Theoren or as Zdeno Chara. Here is the video decision of the Player Safety department:
As you can see with the video the NHL PSD took the following into consideration:
- it was charging;
- Byron has no history of either fine or suspension; and
- The hit resulted in an injury.
Considering this, they handed a 3 game suspension down on Byron which means he'll miss the games against Columbus, Philadelphia and Arizona. Add that to the All-Star Game break and the bye week and Byron will be without any game action for 17 days. Minutes after the ruling was given, Byron put the following statement on his Twitter account:
3 games seems a lot for a player with no previous history but I guess the league is trying to put an end to hits to the head all together... However, hockey being a fast paced, hard hitting sport, accidents are meant to happen and I feel it's utopian to think that's possible.
With Byron out of the equation for 3 games, he leaves an opening in the formation and it will be interesting to see who will be given the chance the step in. Combined with Chaput's latest blunders, perhaps it means that both Hudon and Peca will be called upon in Columbus tomorrow. It's also interesting to note that Karl Alzner was sent back to Laval after the last game but no one was called up...yet anyways... It can't be that Juulsen is on the way back up since he wasn't even dressed for the Rocket last night which makes me assume that he's still injured. Could Andrew Shaw be nearing a return? We should know more at today's practice.
Montreal Canadiens Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»