NHL Department of Player Safety announces another embarrassing punishment for head shot

In last night's game with the Kraken visiting the Oilers, Edmonton fell down two goals early and were looking to spark a comeback. Looking to make a physical play to bring some energy, Oilers forward Adam Erne instead made an incredibly dirty hit against Seattle forward Pierre-Edouard Bellemare.


From the replay, you can clearly see Erne leap into Bellemare, driving his elbow into the head as the primary point of contact. For such a predatory hit, it's surprising the Department of Player Safety has only assessed a fine this morning.




While there were some more harsh but appropriate sentences from Player Safety earlier this year, there was some hope for more competent disciplinary decisions, but recently they've regressed into their previous mistakes.