Montreal Canadiens: Brendan Gallagher Suspension Reminder You Can Only Hit Opponent's In The Head With Your Stick

The Montreal Canadiens will be without a veteran leader for the foreseeable future as Brendan Gallagher has been forced to take a seat for a while.

The Canadiens assistant captain had a squeaky clean record throughout his NHL career. That was, until Thursday night.

In the third period of a game the Canadiens were winning 3-1, Gallagher took a run at defenseman Adam Pelech. When it appeared Pelech had avoided contact, Gallagher reached up with his elbow and clipped the Isles defender right on the jaw.

It was a heavy contact with great force that knocked Pelech to the ice and he stayed down for a while. He would eventually get back on his feet and leave the game without a stretcher or anything needed, but he did not return to the game.

The Isles came back to tie the game but a late goal by Sean Monahan gave the Canadiens the win. All the talk after the game was about Gallagher's hit and the inevitable suspension that was coming.

It really didn't come as a shock this evening that Gallagher received a five game ban for his actions. A hit like that to he head should always result in a lengthy suspension, so no one should be shocked that it did this time.... except the NHL's Department of Player Safety headed by George Parros has made some shocking decisions in the past so you can't really guess what suspension is coming.

Earlier this season, New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba whacked Boston Bruins forward Trent Frederic in the head with his stick and was still not suspended. He took a full baseball swing at the guy's head and Parros handed him a $5,000 fine.

What we should all take away from these decisions by George Parros is, if you need to try and injure an opponent by hitting them in head, make sure you swing your stick at them because that is fine while elbowing them is not okay.