"The elbow positioning could possibly be explained if he'd had a stick - lifting an arm to pull the blade in close as he neared the boards. Without that though, he may as well have thrown a knee check. He was in the wrong position, without a stick, and reacted improperly - endangering another player. We all know extremities will go flying along the boards, but not with open ice speed. Five games will likely be enough to help prevent this sort of thing. It's comparable to the Rick Tocchet knee checking suspensions." - Jay Wiegmann