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Report: Doan won’t be punished for Letang hit

Kris Letang

Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan didn’t receive a penalty for his hit on Penguins defenseman Kris Letang late in the second period of Saturday’s game and the NHL Department of Player Safety doesn’t intend to issue any supplement discipline either, per Fox Sports Arizona’s Craig Morgan.

You can view the incident below:

While the hit wasn’t high and the concussion was instead the result of the awkward position Letang was in and the subsequent fall, some argued that the check was late. That’s not how the NHL sees it though.

“After reviewing the play carefully and from all angles, we have determined that this was an unfortunate result from a hockey play. It is not boarding, it is not charging, he doesn’t hit him in the head. He finishes his check by shoving Letang and unfortunately he falls awkwardly,” a member of Player Safety told Morgan. “It wasn’t really even a violent hit, although resulted in an unfortunate injury.”

Letang was hospitalized as a result of the hit and has a concussion. With Christian Ehrhoff (upper body) also sidelined, the Penguins will be dressing just five defensemen for the time being.

For his part, Doan said, “We have to finish our checks on him. I didn’t mean to hit him in that… you know hit him to stop him from jumping by. You never ever want to see a guy like that, especially of his caliber. Obviously everything that he’s went through the last couple years, you never want to see that so you feel awful as a player when something like that happens.”

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