Nashville’s Calle Jarnkrok was about to be sent to the penalty box after he boarded San Jose’s Micheal Haley on Saturday. The hit to Haley crossed a line and deserved to be disciplined by the officials, but Haley didn’t feel comfortable that the officiating crew could handle things on their own. So, he took matters into his own hands.

Haley popped back up following the hit and raced over to find Jarnkrok. Haley weeded through a sea of Sharks, Predators and refs to find his guy and dished out a vicious sucker punch straight to Jarnkrok’s face.

That sucker punch has Haley in hot water with the league.

That’s going to be a suspension. It remains to be seen just how many games Haley will be forced to sit, but it’s pretty obvious he’ll be punished.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced that there will be a hearing for Haley on Monday.

There’s really no defense for Haley here. He was boarded by Jarnkrok and had every reason to be upset. That being said, Haley could have grabbed Jarnkrok and tried to drop the mitts with him. Instead, he went straight for the punch without giving his opponent an opportunity to actually drop his gloves.

With Anthony Mantha dishing out a late punch of his own recently, the NHL may need to send a message to Haley in an effort to cut down and prevent more sucker punches in the future.

About David Rogers

Editor for The Comeback and Contributing Editor for Awful Announcing. Lover of hockey, soccer and all things pop culture.