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NHL Notebook: No supplemental discipline for Hall after concussing hit on Sanderson, Kings down bad against Avalanche, and more
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Photo credit: James Guillory-Imagn Images
Alicia LaBine
Apr 24, 2026, 21:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 24, 2026, 19:09 EDT
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Ottawa Senators defenceman Jake Sanderson will not play in Game 4 after being sidelined by a concussion following a high hit from Carolina Hurricanes forward Taylor Hall.
The hit occurred in the first few minutes of the second period of Thursday night’s Game 2 between the Hurricanes and Senators, and Hall was given a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head. Sanderson continued playing until around the halfway point in the game, he then left the ice after a puck hit his hand on a blocked shot, and he did not return.
After the game ended, Senators head coach Travis Green spoke with the media and expressed his frustration with the lack of repercussion.
“It’s pretty obvious why he left the game,” Green said. “I just don’t understand how there’s not a five-minute major called on a hit to the head. It’s a blatant hit to the head. The kind of hit you don’t want to see. It’s ridiculous there wasn’t a review.”
Sens fans have been rattled by the lack of penalization for Hall, however, the hit was actually clean according to the NHL’s Rule 48.1 for illegal check to the head. 
The rule states, “A hit resulting in contact with an opponent’s head where the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable is not permitted.
DailyFaceoff’s Matt Larkin wrote about how this hit is protected by the NHL’s rulebook.
Going through the three sub-rules explains why Hall won’t be disciplined despite the fact Sanderson’s head is the principal point of contact.
(i): Hall’s skates are on the ice, he doesn’t extend an elbow to “pick” the head, and he throws the hit with his shoulder.
(ii) Sanderson does in fact reach for the puck and put himself in a vulnerable position right before the collision.
(iii) Hall doesn’t alter the position of his body to chase the head; he’s already in the midst of the hit attempt when Sanderson changes the angle of his head.
The hit thus isn’t a rule violation – or at least not a severe enough one to rise past the minor penalty. It doesn’t mean we have to like it – eliminating all head contact, even incidental, would be a lovely idea – but we do have to accept that the hit was clean according to the current NHL rulebook.
Ultimately, the Senators will be without their best defenceman in Game 4, when they take on the Hurricanes Saturday at 3:00 p.m. MT.

Kings fall to 3-0 against Avs

The series between the Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings moved to California for Game 3, but home-ice advantage wasn’t enough to spark a win for the Kings.
After having their best game of the series, outshooting the Avs for the first time, and getting key games from top players like Artemi Panarin, Alex Laferriere, and Adrian Kempe, they still fell 4-2 to the President’s Trophy winners.
There are no surprises about Colorado’s dominance in this series, as they finished an entire 31 points ahead of the Kings during the regular season. Now the Kings, who haven’t won a playoff round since their 2014 Stanley Cup championship, are on the verge of being swept by the Avs in Round 1.
Daily Faceoff LIVE‘s hosts Tyler Yaremchuk and Carter Hutton explained how this is exactly what fans should have expected from this matchup.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Colorado being up 3-0 on L.A. is anything but surprising, Hutts. I look at that game, a 4-2 loss in Game 3, and a game in which L.A. might’ve been the better team, but I think that just illustrates that even L.A.’s A-game isn’t good enough to beat Colorado’s B-minus-game. It’s 4-2, the Kings outshoot them, they outchance them, they score on the power play. (Anton) Forsberg made some incredible saves even is his statline’s not great. The Avs are just in a different class. This was never going to be close for me.
Carter Hutton: This is what we expected. I think we called it yesterday when we put our bet in, we took the puck line, we knew this was going to happen, so we’ve got to pump our tires when we can get it. This is a team that capitalizes on their chances. The Kings are on a power play, there’s a turnover, (Artturi) Lehkonen beats Panarin up the ice. I know he’s been on the ice for the power play, but the effort back on that backcheck is just not winning hockey. The Avs are just way to fast.
The Kings will be on the brink of elimination in Game 4 on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. MT.

Blue Jackets make changes to coaching staff

Assistant coaches Mike Haviland and Scott Ford, and video coach Arun August, will not return for the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2026-27, the club announced Friday.
This announcement follows the Blue Jackets missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year and provides head coach Rick Bowness with his own staff to back him up heading into next year.
As Bowness said in his postseason media appearance, he wants a complete culture change for this team, and apparently that begins with the coaching staff.
“Following our end-of-season meetings, Rick and I determined that changes to our coaching staff would be in the best interest of our club moving forward,” General manager Don Waddell said in the release. “We are very appreciative of the time and hard work that Mike, Scott and Aron have done during their time with the Blue Jackets and wish them well in their future endeavors. We will begin the process of reviewing candidates to join our staff in the very near future.”
The three dismissed coaches’ contracts ended at the conclusion of the 2025-26 season. Daily Faceoff’s Tyler Kuehl provided some background information on the coaches’ tenures in Columbus.
Haviland and Ford both joined the Blue Jackets ahead of the 2024-25 season after working as assistants for the team’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, in each of the previous two years as assistants.
Augustitus was hired by Columbus in 2018, serving as a video assistant from 2020 to 2025.
Bowness’s arrival in Columbus sparked something in the group that brought the team from the depths of the Metropolitan Division to being a true contender for the final wildcard spot. Unfortunately, their season ended in disappointment as they concluded the year with a 2-8-1 record in the last three weeks.
With the tweaks behind him, Bowness and the Blue Jackets hope to be talking about playoff hockey this time next year rather than staff dismissals.

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