Five and a half minutes into the third period of Wednesday's preseason game, Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith was ejected for his hit on Chicago Blackhawks forward Ben Smith. Ben Smith was skating across the Detroit zone with the puck and received a shoulder to the head from the Red Wings defenseman. Immediately Brendan Smith was ejected and given a 10-minute misconduct.
Here's a look at the hit:
The NHL has been cracking down on all hits to the head. More specifically, former Red Wing and current NHL VP of player safety Brendan Shanahan has been cracking down on head shots by handing out suspensions on a daily basis. The NHL posts a video of Shanahan explaining each suspension, and it's likely there will be one for Brendan Smith in the next few days.
Although the hit didn't appear to be intentional and was more bad timing than anything, Smith is still likely going to be suspended. At the very least, expect him to be sidelined the remainder of the preseason and the first few games of the regular season. I don't expect a major suspension, nor do I expect Smith to even be in the NHL to serve the suspension if it involves regular season games, but he will still likely be disciplined by Shanahan.