Zachary L'Heureux's suspension puts Nashville Predators in another predicament

As much as you can call it a "banb bang" type of play, Zachary L'Heureux's hit on Jared Spurgeon of the Minnesota Wild was at the very least reckless and and very dangerous.

The NHL Department of Player Safety has dealt out a three-game suspension to L'Heureux, who is playing in his rookie season and trying to shake the reputation he has brought from mostly his playing days in the QMJHL where had had nine suspensions.

The slew foot is when a player takes out the legs of another player in a dangerous manner, and whether L'Heureux had malicious intent or not, this is the result that Spurgeon unfortunately suffered.

You can be the judge of whether L'Heureux was malicious and meant to lay out the punishing result, or if it was just two players skating hard for the puck in a sport that's fast and often has brutal consequences.

Does the punishment fit the crime for L'Heureux?

You have to take your bias out of this. When I look at the hit over and over again, I come to the conclusion that L'Heureux dangerously took the legs out from under Spurgeon, and quite frankly the intent doesn't matter. You're responsible for your stick and your body when going to make a play.

If Spurgeon hadn't gone dangerously flying into the board legs first and suffered such a nasty injury, then maybe just a common roughing or tripping penalty comes from it. The three-game suspension fits the crime.

L'Heureux is going to have to learn to walk the fine line between being a fiery and aggressive player while not crossing that line of being "dirty". He's going to have a target on his back now that this reputation is carrying over into the NHL.

Now judging by how L'Heureux carries himself with a certain moxy and swagger, I'm sure he welcomes all of the attention. This is the way he plays the game, with both good results and bad results. This is a case of a bad result.

Nasty hits happen constantly in the NHL, and L'Heureux preceding reputation didn't help his cause in this. No one is going to rush to give him the benefit of the doubt, even though I can see the argument that his intent wasn't what the result ended up being. If that was L'Heureux's true intent to send a guy into the boards that dangerously, then obviously there is zero tolerance for that and he'll be on the fast track out of the NHL if he continues with more of those types of plays.

Nashville Predators have had to lean on Milwaukee prospects a lot lately

As for how the Predators navigate the suspension, they have called up Ozzy Wiesblatt from the Milwaukee Admirals. Another prospect that is way ahead of schedule and probably not entirely ready for the NHL jump, but the Predators are dealing with Cole Smith on injured reserve, forcing the need to make the call up. Smith's injury timeline is four to six weeks.

Spencer Stastney has also been called up to boost the defensive corps. Jeremy Lauzon didn't return to the game against the Minnesota Wild on Monday.

As I said in my New Years Resolutions for the 2025 Nashville Predators, at this point you have to embrace the tank. That doesn't mean we want the Predators to lose on purpose, but just live with the consequences of playing a lot of inexperienced players and see who develops into something worth keeping around for the long-term. They'll likely get a top-10 pick, their first since 2013.

Wiesblatt plays a hard and physical game as well, like L'Heureux. Wiesblatt has seven goals and seven assists in his first season with the Admirals after being traded for over the past summer in exchange for Egor Afanasyev to the San Jose Sharks.

Vinnie Hinostroza, the AHL's leading scorer, has also recently been called up by the Predators and made his Predators debut against the Wild.

Obviously the Predators are in complete dissarray and this season has gone totally off script from what we could've planned. Might as well get used to seeing a lot of new players constantly getting put into the starting lineup.

Expect L'Heureux to be back after the three games and remain an important part of the surge of youth to the lineup as the Predators are expected to be a seller at the 2025 Trade Deadline, carving out more room for young players like L'Heureux to play vital roles.