Andrew Shaw has a phone hearing on Thursday with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety after boarding Caps prospect Connor Hobbs. If boarding Hobbs wasn’t dumb enough, Shaw gestured to the crowd for more cheers while fighting Nathan Walker–a fight that wouldn’t have transpired had Shaw played responsibly.
For his efforts, Shaw amassed 30 penalty minutes and was ejected in his preseason debut with Montreal. The NHL’s Department of Player Safety will also have a phone hearing with Shaw on Thursday.
Montreal’s Andrew Shaw will have a hearing tomorrow for boarding Washington’s Connor Hobbs.
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) September 28, 2016
Phone hearing for Andrew Shaw. #canadiens #tvasports
— Renaud Lavoie (@renlavoietva) September 28, 2016
Postgame, Shaw commented on the hit:
“It was not my intention to hurt him; I only wanted to put them in check,” explained Shaw at the end of the evening, which ended in a 5-2 victory for the Canadiens.
Habs coach Michel Therrien also shared his thoughts.
#Habs M.Therrien on Shaw it tonight: “It’s a fine line… most important thing is their player didn’t get hurt.”
— Richard Labbé (@Richardlabbe) September 28, 2016
Luckily, Hobbs wasn’t injured, but Walker stepped in to defend his teammate. Caps Assistant Coach Todd Reirden was pleased with Walker’s decision to drop the gloves.
Reirden also liked Walker standing up to Shaw after hit on Hobbs. “That’s team. That’s Capitals hockey. …His effort was pointed out.”
— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikCSN) September 28, 2016
The Caps will face the Habs in regular-season action on December 17.
Translation by Harini Radhakrishnan.
