Report: Alex Burrows will not be suspended for hit on Gaustad

It’s a rare example of Alex Burrows receiving the benefit of the doubt.

The hand of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety has reportedly been stayed and the pesky Vancouver Canucks winger will not be facing a disciplinary hearing for interfering with Nashville Predators checker Paul Gaustad on Tuesday night, according to TVA’s Renaud Lavoie.

Read on past the jump.

The Canucks and the NHL reportedly touched base on Wedne
sday morning and the league confirmed that Burrows will not be facing supplementary discipline, reports Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province. 

This all comes as a bit of a surprise considering Burrows’ lengthy rap sheet – although his repeat offender status only factors into the length of a possible suspension and doesn’t influence whether or not a particular act warrants supplementary discipline – and the severity of the on-ice penalty assessed on Tuesday night. The Canucks themselves reportedly expected Burrows to get dinged with a short suspension, though general manager Jim Benning indicated that he didn’t believe the hit warranted further discipline. 

Burr was just skating up ice and Gaustad just kind of turned back and didn’t see him,” Benning told Botchford on Wednesday.
“I don’t think there should be (supplemental discipline). Because he was skating up the ice and a player just turned into him.”

For his hit on Gaustad (which you can watch in the Vine embedded above), Burrows was assessed a major penalty for interference and was tossed from the contest. Kevin Bieksa was similarly tossed in the aftermath of the incident, apparently for exchanging words with Gaustad and the on-ice official as the injured Predators forward lay prone on the ice.

At the moment it seems that Bieksa will also escape any additional punishment for his rule 48 violation on Tuesday night, according to Botchford.