NHL suspends Blackhawks' Niklas Hjalmarsson for season opener

Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson will miss the team’s next three games after he was suspended by the NHL for a hit on Ty Rattie of the St. Louis Blues Saturday night.

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Here’s Patrick Burke of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety explaining the decision:

As Burke notes, Hjalmarsson could have hit Rattie through the body considering the amount of time he had to line the Blues forward up. Getting the head when you look at the distance traveled on his way toward the hit is an easy way to get yourself a hearing with the DoPS.

Hjalmarsson will miss Chicago’s final two preseason games along with their regular-season opener on Oct. 12.

As for Rattie’s status, Blues head coach Ken Hitchcock’s response when asked was, “Everybody is fine, we’re fine.” OK then!

Meanwhile, Andrew Shaw will be ready for Montreal’s opener once his preseason ban ends.

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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy