The Minnesota Wild will lose their top defenseman for two games.
The NHL’s Department of Player Safety suspended Ryan Suter Wednesday evening for the elbow he delivered to Pittsburgh’s Steve Downie in Tuesday night’s 7-2 Wild loss in Pittsburgh.
Here is the official announcement from the league.
This embed is invalid
Suter will miss tomorrow's game at Buffalo and Saturday's Hockey Day Minnesota celebration against the #coyotes
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 15, 2015
According to the Star Tribune the Wild initially hoped Suter would fined instead, because he had never been fined or suspended for an illegal hit in his 10-year NHL career.
“First off if you know the player, you know that’s not his intention at all,” said Wild coach Mike Yeo. “He’s not in any way a dirty player.”
Yeo said he believed the hit was an accident, because Suter wasn’t looking at Downie when he struck him with his elbow.
The suspension will also take a pretty hefty bite out of Suter’s pocket book.
Ryan Suter loses $81,058.72 in salary #mnwild
— Michael Russo (@RussoHockey) January 15, 2015
“I know that’s not his intention, that’s not the type of player that he is,” Yeo said to the Star Tribune. “I know that he felt bad about it even during the game.”
The newspaper notes that Suter even sent an apology through Downie’s teammate Sidney Crosby during the game.
