Hodgson gets two games for boarding Brandt Clarke, and it's light
Ottawa's depth forward drew the suspension for driving the Kings defenseman into the boards from behind Thursday in Los Angeles.
Two games feels like the league's floor for this kind of hit, and Hayden Hodgson got the floor. The Senators forward was suspended without pay for boarding Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke on Thursday night in Los Angeles. Ottawa can survive without him for a weekend; the Kings may have a harder time living without Clarke.
What happened. The hit came at 11:10 of the second period of a game the Kings won 6-5. Hodgson took a major for boarding and a game misconduct. He had a hearing with the Department of Player Safety on Friday.
The league said he came in from behind with a high, hard hit that caught Clarke's head and drove him into the boards. "Hodgson tracks Clarke from behind while skating at a speed that does not allow him to adjust to Clarke," the department said. Hodgson argued he was trying to throw a shoulder-to-shoulder check. The video won that argument.
Clarke left with an upper-body injury. Los Angeles hasn't provided a timeline for his return.
The money. Hodgson forfeits $8,762.88, which goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund. He's 30, with no points and 24 penalty minutes in five games this season.
The Ferda numbers. Hodgson has averaged 5.1 minutes a night, per NHL data. Clarke has averaged 19.2 minutes with nine points in 12 games. That's the math of a fourth-line hit on a top-four defenseman, and it's why two games reads light from the Los Angeles side.
Ottawa also has a pattern. The Senators are taking 13.1 penalty minutes a game, second in the league behind only Florida, by our count. They took 35 in this one alone. The Panthers at least have banners to show for it.
Ferda take: Player Safety got the facts right and the number wrong. From behind, head contact, a player who couldn't protect himself: that's the textbook case the department keeps saying it wants out of the game. Two games tells a depth forward the risk is worth it. Three games would have delivered an actual message.
What's next: Hodgson sits Ottawa's next two games. The Kings' next update on Clarke is the one that matters. If he misses real time, this suspension will look even shorter than it does today.
