Fraser: I’d be surprised if Hansen suspended for Hossa hit; Olcyzk: I’d be surprised if he’s not

Mike Halford

Feb 20, 2013, 2:49 PM EDT

48 Comments

A former NHL referee and player have weighed in on Jannik Hansen‘s hit on Marian Hossa during Chicago’s 4-3 shootout win over Vancouver on Tuesday night — and, unsurprisingly, the two see things differently.

Kerry Fraser said he’ll be taken aback if Hansen is suspended for his hit on Hossa.

“Stranger things have happened but I would be surprised if Hansen receives a suspension on this play,” Fraser wrote in his most recent TSN mailbag. “I have seen far worse hits that have gone unpunished this season.”

Meanwhile, former Blackhawk and current NHL on NBC analyst Ed Olczyk told a Chicago-area radio station he’d be surprised if Hansen wasn’t suspended.

“To me, there’s no doubt in my mind,” Olczyk said on 670 The Score. “Once he didn’t play the puck, he had one thing in his mind, and that was to put his forearm or elbow in the back of the head of Marian Hossa.

“If you go by what happened with Duncan Keith last year with Daniel Sedin where the principle point of contact was the head, you would assume that Jannik Hansen would get suspended.”

Here’s more, from Fraser:

I do not believe that there was any deliberate or malicious intent on the part of Jannik Hansen to hit Marian Hossa in the head as both players went up for an airborne puck that had been flipped out of the Hawks zone by Jonathan Toews.

The resulting contact to the back of Hossa’s head was not worthy of anything beyond the minor penalty for roughing that was eventually assessed by the referees; albeit well after play was whistled dead for the Hossa injury.

And more, from Olcyzk:

It was a really quick play. How eerie is it that where Hossa got hit last night is probably within a foot and a half of where he got hit last year in the playoffs.

I would think that with the call and the rules and making sure that players are in control of their actions, I would be surprised if he did not get suspended.

Hansen will meet with NHL officials at 3:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday to decide his fate.

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