Carl Hagelin Suspension: Rangers' Rookie Deserved Stiffer Penalty for Dirty Hit

Carl Hagelin had to expect severe punishment after his dirty hit on Daniel Alfredsson in the New York Rangers' overtime loss to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. But the fact that he was only suspended three games should be considered a huge win for Hagelin and the team. 

The incident occurred midway through the second period, when Alfredsson was trying to push the puck to his teammate. Hagelin came flying in and checked him into the board with his elbow right at Alfredsson's head. 

When Alfredsson went down, you knew that some kind of punishment was coming.

At first glance, the hit doesn't look that bad. It is nothing worse than your normal Stanley Cup playoff hit.

On second glance, however, it is clear that Hagelin was going in with his elbow up aiming for Alfredsson's head. That kind of action can't be tolerated, and the NHL did send a message with the suspension. 

Unfortunately the message isn't loud enough. Granted, the NHL didn't really do a good job justifying the suspension, with Matt Carkner just being given a one-game ban because, according to head disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan, one caused an injury and the other didn't. 

Give the NHL credit for trying to combat head injuries and pointless hits to the skull that can lead to long-term damage down the road, but Hagelin should have been made an example of to curtail this issue. You can say that missing three playoff games is more than enough punishment, but it doesn't make the emphatic statement that the league needs to make in order to really prevent these kinds of incidents from occurring in the future. 

Hagelin is not a dirty player, and no one is saying he is. He got caught doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, and he deserves to be punished as such.

Even if the Rangers claim to be perplexed by the suspension, they have to know that the NHL has to be looking at the bigger picture. 

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