Bad news for Duncan Keith after his ugly cheap shot.

You knew when it happened it was going to be bad.

It appears that Duncan Keith's status as one of the National Hockey League's top stars will not protect him from additional discipline after he effectively slashed Minnesota Wild forward Charlie Coyle in the face with his stick.

The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety has just announced that the Blackhawks defenseman has been offered an in-person hearing, which means he is looking at a massive suspension for his actions on Tuesday night. According to NHL Player Safety an in-person hearing is offered "if the infraction might require a suspension of six games or more, the offending Player is offered the opportunity to an in-person hearing"

Any guess as to how many games Keith could be looking at is pure speculation at this point, but with only 5 games remaining for Chicago in the regular season it seems almost certain that they will be starting the playoffs without their top defenseman.

[pub]