The NHL Department of Players Saftey has announced that Montreal Canadiens forward Max Domi has been suspended for five pre-season games. He will not miss any regular season games. This is his second career suspension.
Montreal’s Max Domi suspended for the remainder of the preseason for roughing Florida’s Aaron Ekblad. https://t.co/OoZ1wP0Sv5
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) September 20, 2018
Max Domi Suspended Five Pre-Season Games
Domi has been suspended five pre-season games for an incident with Florida Panthers defencemen Aaron Ekblad. Domi sucker punched Ekblad during the Habs second pre-season game. He was assessed a minor, major and match penalty on the play.
In his first game in a Canadiens sweater, Max Domi is tossed for this punch to the face of Aaron Ekblad. pic.twitter.com/VBKBxx4jeg
— Tim and Sid (@timandsid) September 20, 2018
During his three-plus years in the NHL Domi has played for the Arizona Coyotes and Montreal Canadiens. He has scored 36 goals along with 99 assists for 135 career points in 222 career NHL games. Domi was originally drafted 12th overall by the Coyotes in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.
Last season, he scored nine goals and 36 assists for 45 points in 82 games. He also added 73 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 48.8 percent Corsi-for with a relative Corsi of +0.7. Domi was traded to Montreal in June and signed a two-year, $6.3 million dollar deal with the Habs shortly thereafter.
What This Means for the Future
With Domi being suspended Montreal has lost one of the four centers that they planned on starting the year with. This now opens up the door for Jesperi Kotkaniemi or Nick Suzuki to possibly see time in Domi’s absence. This will, of course, be a huge blow to the Habs offence. Domi was expected to be the Habs first line center to start the year and it is unlikely that the suspension will change Montreal’s mind on where they put him in the line-up.
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