Will Wayne Simmonds' butt-end warrant suspension for Kings?

Yahoo! Sports

Sun Oct 24 11:57am EDT

Will Wayne Simmonds' butt-end warrant suspension for Kings?

If Wayne Simmonds (notes) escapes punishment for his alleged butt-ending of T.J. Galiardi (notes) of the Colorado Avalanche, it'll be the second time he can wipe his brow in 24 hours.

The first time came when Brad Richardson (notes) scored two consecutive goals in the third period Saturday night to give the Los Angeles Kings at 6-4 victory over the Avs. Simmonds was given a 5-minute major and a game misconduct at 8:40 of the third period, with the Kings up 4-3. Milan Hejduk (notes) scored on the ensuing power play to tie it, before Richardson's heroics pull it out for L.A.

As for the butt-end, Kukla found video of it via a Sportsnet report. Warning No. 1: The footage is brief and inconclusive. Warning No. 2: It contains a video ad that's roughly the length of the highlight.

Will it be a suspension for Simmonds? Evidence suggests otherwise.

First, here's Kings Coach Terry Murray on the play, via LA Kings Insider:

"I don't know. I'm not real sure what the actual call was. A five-minute major, but was there anything more on there? I don't know. Was it a game misconduct? Was it a match penalty? I don't know that yet. I haven't seen it. I would think there would be a look at it, from the league."

Note that it wasn't in fact a match penalty. An update on Galiardi, via Denver Post:

TJ Galiardi seemed OK after the game. He took a stick to the privates from Wayne Simmonds, which drew a 5-minute major. I bet Simmonds gets off from being suspended, because Galiardi wasn't seriously hurt after all, but it was a cheapshot. Simmonds gave me a terse "no comment" after the game when I asked him about it.

When it comes to butt-ends and spearing that don't result in significant injuries, the NHL's usually left it on the ice. Witness Derek Boogaard (notes) and Chris Neil (notes) from earlier this season. Witness last season, when Tomas Plekanec butt-ended David Krejci to the face and escaped punishment - despite already being "in the system" for a slew foot earlier in 2009.

No injury, no massively incriminating video to make the League look bad and a history of this thing going unpunished ... the Wheel of Discipline lands on "move along, nothing to see here."