Veteran forward could be looking at long suspension

As we reported, Antoine Vermette of the Anaheim Ducks was thrown out of his game against the Minnesota Wild after slashing an official. He did not like how the puck was dropped and and hacked the back of the linesman's leg.

As Bob Mackenzie of TSN mentions, Vermette can be looking at an automatic suspension of 10 games for the slash as per automatic suspension rule category 2. It states that "Any player who deliberately applies physical force to an official without intent to injure, will be automatically suspended no less than 10 games"

Vermette has never been suspended in his career and is not the type of guy who just goes around hacking linesman as he pleases. There will most certainly be an appeal but we will have to see what is decided and if the NHL will use this as an example of something not to do.

We will keep you updated when more details are available.

Here is the video of the incident in case you missed it: