Dan Carcillo has been suspended seven games for his hit on Tom Gilbert, something we all probably expected the second Dan Carcillo hit Tom Gilbert on Monday night. He'll miss a reunion on Thursday night with his old Philadelphia Flyers teammates, and will finish out his suspension on January 15 vs. San Jose.
He won't be eligible to return to the Chicago lineup until January 18.
As Brendan Shanahan notes in is video, Carcillo is allowed slight body contact when battling for a 50-50 puck in that situation, but to launch Gilbert into the boards with such force before Gilbert had touched the puck is illegal. It's boarding, and given that Carcillo was suspended for boarding already this season, it was acceptable to suspend him for such a long period of time.
Carcillo is a repeat offender, and as such, not only did Shanahan throw the book at him, but the Blackhawk also loses more money. He'll lose over $66,000 in salary, and that forfeiture is based on number of games in the schedule, not number of days in the season as typical.