John Erskine disagrees that his elbow on Wayne Simmonds was “reckless”

This hit to the head of Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds earned John Erskine a three-game suspension, and it's hard to disagree with that.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=
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Well, unless you're John Erskine. During his explaining of the suspension, NHL discipline czar Brendan Shanahan stated that the recklessness of Erskine's hit played into his decision. It's pretty clearly reckless – Erskine lays full elbow into Simmonds' face. Anyone who has watched an episode of Mr. Wizard knows that is going to cause some whiplash at least, and a concussion (or something way worse) at the most. It's reckless and dangerous to hit someone like this.

Erskine disagrees. he believes reckless is unintentional elbows to the face, or flying around with your elbows out. What he did. Fine. It's apparently now ok to hit someone in the face on purpose.

“I don't think it was a reckless play or a reckless elbow,” Erskine said. “I wasn't flying down the ice a hundred miles an hour with my elbow up in the air. That's what [Shanahan] called it, and I gotta live with it"
 
Aside from that not being reckless in Erskine's definition, it was also a reflexive hit. Ok then. A least he called Simmonds to apologize, I guess. Though why someone would apologize for not doing anything wrong is beyond me.
 

About Laura Astorian

Laura Astorian is the head editor for the SB Nation blog St. Louis Game Time and has been a Blues fan from childhood. She promises that any anti-Blackhawks bias will be left at the door. Maybe.

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