Player Safety comes down on Rasmus Andersson for “roughing” Kailer Yamamoto.
Andersson's headbutt earns him extra discipline.
The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety is indeed intervening in the Battle of Alberta.
According to an official announcement from Player Safety on on Sunday, Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson has been issued a $5,000 fine for the headbutt that he delivered to the face of Edmonton Oilers forward Kailer Yamamoto. Now to be clear the NHL did not describe the infraction as a headbutt, but rather issued the fine under the "roughing" rule of the NHL.
This is somewhat of a mixed bag when it comes to the Flames. On the one hand you're going to be glad that Andersson has avoided suspension, especially since the play was highlighted during the NHL broadcast and during Hockey Night in Canada, but on the other hand this now means that Andersson will be considered a repeat offender for future infractions. As per the rules of the collective bargaining agreement, even though a fine does not in itself lead to a suspension, it can impact the severity of another suspension down the line, or may even lead to a potential fine later on being elevated to the level of a suspendable offense
The Oilers likely won't be thrilled by this decision either, no doubt hoping for harsher discipline than what effectively amounts to a slap on the wrist for a player making NHL money. Andersson was clearly the much bigger man between the two and I would not at all be surprised to learn that the Oilers had petitioned the league for a suspension in this incident.
Even though the NHL has stepped in here and issued a fine to Andersson, I highly doubt that this will be the last we hear regarding the fallout from this incident. The Flames and the Oilers have had a notoriously heated rivalry over the years and this will only serve to add more fuel to what is an already blazing hot fire. The Flames and the Oilers will meet again this season but fans hoping for some vengeance will have to wait a little while, these two teams don't face one another again until late in the month of December.
