Tanner Pearson to Have Hearing With Player Safety For Hit on Brandon Davidson

In last night’s game between the Oilers and Kings, Los Angeles forward Tanner Pearson knocked Brandon Davidson out of the game with a hit to the head of the Oilers defenceman. In his post game comments, Todd McLellan said that Davidson is listed as day-to-day, which sounds good but with a hit to the head you never know, it could be a couple days, or a couple weeks, or much longer. And for his part in the incident, Pearson will have a hearing with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety.

The hit, which you can see below, is clearly not a clean hit. Davidson’s head is the point of contact, there is no doubt about that, and the only defence for Pearson that I can see is that Davidson lowered his head slightly as he played the puck right before the hit was thrown. But if you watch the other angles of the hit you see him lift himself up through the hit, and take an angle that was never going to make contact with Davidson’s body. Pearson can spin it however he wants, but I’d be surprised if this doesn’t cost him a game or two.