George Laraque Gets 5

Tough guy Georges Laraque insisted that what happened on Saturday night was purely an accident. This 11 year veteran who is in his second year as the Montreal Canadiens bruiser found himself in hot water with the league after an ugly incident where he stuck out his leg and tripped Detroit Red Wings hard hitting defenceman Niklas Kronwall who sustained a badly sprained MCL in his left knee. ”There is no ACL damage and that’s good news,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said about Kronwall who will miss at least a month. “They are saying it’s between a Grade 2 and a Grade 3 sprain; Grade 3 being the most severe.” This is a significant loss for Detroit as Kronwall supplies not only toughness on the backend but also some offence as he was on pace for a respectable 50 point season. After the incident Laraque received only a two minute minor for tripping. As a result of not getting a match Laraque stated that he wasn’t worried about a possible suspension because of not being accessed a match penalty.  Holland on the other hand knew that there was a good chance that the league would dish out some sort of disciplinary action. “The league called me (Saturday night),” Holland said. “Obviously, they are looking into it. They told me they saw the hit and they requested that I let them know the extent of Nik’s injury.” Knee injuries aren’t a new thing for Kronwall who had to undergo extensive knee surgery back in 2005. The ruling came down on Monday and not surprisingly the big Canadiens forward was given a five game suspension.