During the first period of Monday night's Detroit Red Wings-Chicago Blackhawks game, Todd Bertuzzi delivered a hit to the head of Chicago's Ryan Johnson.
Bertuzzi came flying in and turned his back as he made contact with Johnson, resulting in Bertuzzi's elbow and forearm making contact with Johnson's head. Bertuzzi received a 5-minute major and a game misconduct penalty for the hit.
Johnson, who had to leave the game initially, returned later in the first period. In all, Johnson was off the ice from the 5:17 mark to the 9:55 mark, which, as Yahoo Puck Daddy blogger Greg Wyshynski pointed out: "Doesn't seem like 15 minutes," but that's another issue for the NHL brass to deal with.
Given the current hyper-sensitive state of the NHL offices in lieu of Matt Cooke's season-ending suspension and Bertuzzi's history, the question is: Will the NHL suspend Bertuzzi, who's had a clean record this season.
NESN'S Mike Milbury, who had the call on VERSUS, referred to the way Bertuzzi turned his back as he hit Johnson as a "chicken poop hit."
So is this hit worthy of a ''chicken poop'' suspension as well?
