The NHL’s Department of Player Safety tweeted this morning that Winnipeg Jets defenseman Brenden Dillon will have a hearing today for his illegal check to the head of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Noel Acciari. According to Frank Seravalli of DailyFaceoff, the hearing will be a phone hearing, meaning that Dillon will receive a suspension of five games or less.
The hit happened at the 4:15 mark of the second period in a game that was 1-0 Pittsburgh at the time. Dillon was originally given a two-minute penalty and then received a match penalty on the play after it was reviewed.
Acciari hit the ice hard and in a scary moment tried to get up to his feet but fell back to the ice. He eventually skated off with assistance from the Penguins training staff and left the game with an undisclosed injury. Acciari was visibly bloody from the incident. The Penguins scored twice on the five-minute powerplay and eventually beat the Jets 3-0.
It wasn’t Dillon’s first run-in with the Penguins as Dillon has had some tough battles with Pittsburgh while he was a member of the Washington Capitals. He also had an incident back in January 2022 where he broke the jaw of former Penguins’ center Teddy Blueger with what appeared to be a check to the head. Dillon escaped discipline for that hit, but that doesn’t appear to be the case this time around.
Dillon’s absence will create a hole on the Jets’ backend as he has been playing over 18 minutes a night this season and is having one of his better offensive seasons while still providing sound defensive play for the team.
User 318310488
Dillon would have flourished in the 80s NHL.
MacJablonski--NotVegasLegend
@Wilf — I believe he thinks he IS in the 80s NHL. Maybe he’s auditioning for NHL 86, since he seems hell-bent on 86-ing guys’ careers.
Rollie's Mustache
Should be an in-person hearing. Weak.
Cla23
OK Stanley, now is your chance (again)
Buctober 2
I think if he didn’t have a history of questionable hits it would have been 1 game max. It wasn’t egregious, but it was illegal. Basically his history is why he got 3 games. I understand, but the suspensions have been so arbitrary this season and things much more egregious have got less games.