NEW YORK -- Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman has been suspended indefinitely pending a hearing for checking and knocking down linesman Don Henderson on Wednesday night.
Wideman will have a hearing Tuesday with the NHL's department of hockey operations.
During the second period of the Flames' game against Nashville, Wideman got up after being hit and struck Henderson on the way to the bench. Wideman said he was in pain and was just trying to get off the ice, adding that he couldn't avoid Henderson.
Wideman apologized to Henderson after the incident (see full story).
John Scott takes shot at NHL before playing in All-Star game
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- John Scott, the career journeyman enforcer who was surprisingly voted into the NHL All-Star game by fans, said he got a call from someone at the league who tried to talk him out of playing in the showcase event this Sunday.
According to Scott, someone with the NHL asked him: "Do you think this is something your kids would be proud of?"
Scott described the incident in a first-person account posted Thursday by The Players Tribune. The 6-foot-8, 260-pound Scott said that moment strengthened his resolve to play in the 3-on-3 format with some of the best hockey players in the world.
"Because, while I may not deserve to be an NHL All-Star, I know I deserve to be the judge of what my kids will -- and won't -- be proud of me for," wrote the 33-year-old Scott, who has two daughters.
Messages seeking comment on Scott's assertions were left with NHL officials (see full story).
NHL teams balance risk and reward with injured All-Stars
WASHINGTON -- A one-game, slap-on-the-wrist suspension isn't enough to stop NHL teams from keeping their banged-up players out of All-Star weekend.
The league said Thursday that Chicago captain Jonathan Toews won't participate in All-Star festivities in Nashville after he left a game this week with an illness. That came one day after the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin pulled out of All-Star weekend with a lower-body injury that the team said had been bothering him since November.
Ovechkin and Toews by rule are suspended for the first game after the All-Star break, the same punishment the Pittsburgh Penguins accepted last year with Sidney Crosby. The NHL's rule was first used in 2009 against Detroit Red Wings stars Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, and now it has been levied against five of the league's top players.
More teams are opting to play it safe (see full story).
