The NHL Department of Player Safety has spoken: Los Angeles Kings winger Tanner Pearson will sit out the rest of the preseason, as well as L.A.’s first two regular season games, for a check to the head of Edmonton Oilers’ defenceman Brandon Davidson.

The NHL’s explanation of this suspension seems pretty straight-forward to me, with the bullet points at the end of the explanatory video summing it up nicely. This was clearly an illegal check to the head; whatever Pearson’s intention he didn’t make contact with the body. Pearson doesn’t have a track record of dirty play, which works in his favour. Davidson hasn’t played since, which works against him. 

Two regular season games doesn’t seem like a very long time, but the league typically doesn’t throw the book at first-time offenders. 

The bigger question is how much this hit is going to impact Davidson. From what the coach has said in his availabilities, it doesn’t sound like the second-year NHL’er will be out of the lineup for very long, which will be great news if it plays out that way. 

Davidson had a wonderful rookie campaign and was a major bright spot in another difficult Edmonton season last year. Any time he misses is going to be noticed. On a more personal level, this is a player who has already experienced adversity on his road to the NHL, and one hopes that he can have a long and healthy career.