Rangers' John Moore Suspended Five Games

New York Rangers defenseman John Moore suspended for five games for illegal head hit

The New York Rangers have not always been one of the dirtiest teams in the league, but this season they’re sure starting to develop a bit of a nasty trend.

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During the Rangers’ Monday night game against the Minnesota Wild, 23-year-old defenseman John Moore delivered an illegal check to the head against Wild forward Erik Haula. The hit resulted in the league awarding Moore a five-game suspension, effective immediately.

The hit itself was not dirty, but was ill-timed. The play is what NBC Pro Hockey Talk calls ‘tricky’, because it’s difficult to pinpoint the hit to exactly the right moment for it to be effective without hurting the player receiving the check.

This will be the second controversial hit out of the Rangers this week, as forward Chris Kreider made a bit of a ‘poor taste’ hit on Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin during the same game. Kreider was given a game misconduct for his hit, though has received no suspension; he is largely less apologetic about the hit than Moore was of his.

The league suggested during the ruling that, while Moore didn’t seem to deliver the hit with the intent to injure his opponent’s head, the ill timing of the blow did make it dangerous and therefore something that must be penalized. This is Moore’s second hit of this nature in recent months; he was penalized for delivering a similar blow to Montreal Canadiens forward Dale Weise during the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs.

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Rangers’ John Moore Suspended Five Games For Illegal Hit To Head

By Catherine Silverman | Oct 29, 2014

New York Rangers defenseman John Moore suspended for five games for illegal head hit

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