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NHL notes: Weber avoids ban after illegal hit
By
QMI Agency
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  Canucks forward Jannik Hansen is knocked off his feet by Predators defenceman Shea Weber at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, B.C., Oct. 20, 2011. (BEN NELMS/Reuters) |
Nashville Predators defenceman Shea Weber escaped a suspension Friday but was fined $2,500 by NHL vice-president of discipline Brendan Shanahan for an illegal hit.
Weber was assessed a minor penalty for boarding the Canucks' Jannik Hansen behind the Nashville net and another two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct Thursday night in Vancouver.
"I didn't like this hit, and I expressed that to Shea Weber," Shanahan said. "I feel it was an illegal hit. I would like to see less force in that situation and that is why he's being fined."
Shanahan said he takes into account a player's history before levelling punishment.
"If you see my highest suspensions, it is when there are multiple offences," Shanahan said. "Weber has played a long time in the NHL and played a very physical style and had no offences. Also, there was no injury on the play."
Weber has played 408 games during his seven-year NHL career. He ranked 19th in the league in hits last season with 211.
"It is a situation where he can't make that hit that way again," Shanahan said of Weber. "He's now in a situation similar to (Kris) Letang where he has a fine on his record."
The Pittsburgh Penguins' Letang drew a two-game suspension earlier this week for a hit on Winnipeg's Alexander Burmistrov.
ANOTHER NANNE
Among the list of players to watch for the 2012 NHL draft is a familiar name: Louie Nanne of Edina, Minn.
Nanne, a left winger, is among the list of prospects named Friday by NHL Central Scouting. A 5-foot-10 winger who averaged better than a point a game in high school hockey last season, Nanne is the grandson of U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Lou Nanne.
