Montreal Canadiens: Chris Wideman Fortunate to Only Get One Game Suspension

The Montreal Canadiens are having a hard time putting together a full lineup thee days.

An incredible number of injuries and a bout with Covid that pretty much knocked the entire team off the active roster forced them to play one game with just 16 skaters. They have almost never been able to use the same lineup in back to back games yet this season and have used 36 different player already this season.

They can’t really afford to lose anyone else at the moment, as they are still waiting for their Covid list to dissipate and they have a few injuries that could be healed in the near future. That’s why they were fortunate not to lose Chris Wideman for more that just last night’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Wideman was suspended for that one game fore head butting Erik Haula on Wednesday night. The Canadiens were playing their first game in 11 days and took on a feisty Boston Bruins squad in a spirited affair that was heavily tilted to the Bruins favour on the scoreboard. The game would eventually end at 5-1, and the lopsided score resulted in a handful of extra-curricular battles after the whistles.

On one such battle, Haula grabbed Wideman from behind and had him in a bit of a bear hug. Wideman tried to wiggle free but couldn’t, so he chose to use his head (literally) to try and shake free. He swung his head at Haula and hit the Bruins centre in the face with the side of his own helmet.

The Department of Player Safety released that video to describe the incident and enforce their one game suspension.

Wideman is fortunate that is wasn’t longer. First of all, head butting a player is quite dangerous and a very intentional illegal act. It’s not like he tried to hit him during play and accidentally got him with his knee, or came in for a hit and finished it just a little too high. No, this was a clearly intended face shot with a helmet.

Head butting is not a common occurrence in the NHL, but there was one other incident this season. Pavel Buchnevich head butted Lawson Crouse in a similar post whistle scrum, but the St. Louis Blues winger was given a two game ban. The Department of Player Safety released the following video after that incident and apparently had the exact same script.

While Buchnevich was given a pair of games for a similar incident, Wideman will just have to sit out one game and is already eligible to return tomorrow night against the Arizona Coyotes.

With all of the injuries, illnesses and absences from the Canadiens roster right now, they are fortunate it was just a one game suspension.