Radko Gudas gets in-person hearing from NHL for hit vs. Bruins

Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas has been invited to an in-person hearing by the NHL Department of Player Safety for his hit on Boston Bruins forward Austin Czarnik on Saturday night. Gudas has chosen not to appear in person, so they’ll talk things over via conference call.

With 14:13 left in the game, Czarnik moved the puck back to a teammate at the blue line. Gudas was skating in, shoulder tucked, ready to blow him up. Czarnik clearly had released the puck. Gudas plowed into him, and it appeared Czarnik’s head was the main point of contact on a hit that was avoidable.

It was Czarnik’s last shift of the game, as he left due to injury.

This is the essential purpose of supplemental discipline: The NHL steps in and administers some justice when the on-ice officials drop the ball. Gudas was given a boarding minor on the play. If that were that as far as punishment … what a joke.

But an in-person hearing usually means a suspension of more than five games. Which is where things get interesting.

The Flyers played their final preseason game on Saturday. This means Gudas’s suspension won’t have any exhibition game padding to it – it’ll be all regular-season contests.

Gudas was suspended three games for an illegal hit last December. He escaped suspension for a hit on Jimmy Vesey of the New York Rangers last week. He’s clearly someone the NHL has communicated with regarding his hits, which tap-dance on the line of illegality.

We thought he might get a suspension for the Vesey hit as a message-sending moment for Player Safety. With Gudas getting an in-person, perhaps we were one controversial hit too early.

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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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