What's Next for Brent Burns? ... Video of the "Minnesota Punch" Courtesy of Puck Daddy/Fox Sports

Steve Bernier likely has a broken cheekbone after Friday night's cheap shot from Minnesota's Brent Burns.

Burns, to his credit, was contrite afterward and said he apologized. Still, he cracked Bernier with the business end of his stick. This is probably going to draw the ire of NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell.

Dale Tallon was completely cheesed off as he watched the replay from his box atop the arena and was likely texting Campbell as we rode down the elevator to the event level.

So what kind of suspension is this going to garner from Campbell.

I think it's safe to say there is a minimum one game suspension coming. Should it be more? Two? Three? More than that?

If Bernier has a fracture cheekbone, he's probably out for a couple of weeks -- meaning we'll likely see Michal Repik sooner than later (Darcy Hordichuk would probably have found his way into the lineup on Saturday anyways what with the Panthers playing the Flyers and all).

Truth is, Bernier's injury could have been really serious (and for all I know, he has a fractured orbital bone and is out for a while). You can't pop a guy in the face with the base of your hockey stick. That's quite a weapon you have right there.

Burns may feel really, really bad about doing this and really, really bad about the pain he caused. He probably knows how dangerous that hit was.

I don't think he'll pull that again.

-- Special thanks to Sean Leahy at Puck Daddy for the video.

Good move by pulling in video from both Fox Sports Florida and Minnesota (we have both kinds of music: Country and Western!)

To read his take on all this, please pop on this link. Always good stuff.

 

 

Comments

[Harry]

Are you kidding me? A game suspension? and to his credit he's contrite? The idiot should be in jail. He can be contrite there.

[resume]

bring up repik and put him on a scoring line for once and retire stillman and keep hordichuck in all games ! just incase no one knows repik is the leading scorer in the ahl right now !!!!!!!!!!!!

[season ticket holder since day one]

As Mike Russo said, a player is always responsible for his stick.

the extent of the injury should not matter but it does to the NHL.

The fact is that the butt end of the stick hit the player in the face and with the concerns about head shots it should be between 3-7 games

[draft shirt]

"The idiot should be in jail."

I slept in this morning and have been slow to really wake up. Thanks to Harry, I have laughed myself out of this early morning stupor.

I could see two or three games as it is now. If the injury were more serious than we expected, maybe upwards of five. Not because I believe Burns had any intent to get him with the stick, but because you have to be responsible for your stick. He wasn't and in this case, it led to an injury, to the head - after the game had ended. That doesn't bode well for Burns despite it being, IMO, an accident.

[Hulk]

Hard working team, beginning to become consistent and look nothing like years past. These guys were constantly on the puck and played solid for most of the game. I'm happy with the progress. We are a long way from the playoffs but in terms of a rebuild, I like the changes so far.

[adam graves]

from tsn
Minnesota Wild defenceman Brent Burns has been handed a two-game suspension from the NHL for a butt-end that he delivered to the face of Panthers' forward Steve Bernier in the dying moments of Friday night's victory by Florida