People's Court: Corey Perry vs. The Shanahammer & The Case Of The Initial Point of Contact

In the first period of Tuesday's game against the Minnesota Wild, Corey Perry injured the Wild's Jason Zucker with the hit in the video above. Zucker, who was knocked out on the play, did come-to and was able to skate off the ice with assistance. (Zucker did not return to the game due to an 'upper body injury'.) For the hit, Perry was issued a five minute major penalty for interference, a 10 minute game misconduct and was subsequently ejected from the game.

In a move that quite frankly surprised me, Ducks PR made Perry available to the media after the game. In the video below, Perry, looking somewhat bewildered, speaks to what happened on the ice.

I don't think anyone will disagree that Perry plays on the very, VERY fine line between legal and illegal plays on the ice. He's known as a pest everywhere, which is part of the reason he's great at what he does. Remember, he's only been suspended once and it was during the NHL Wheel 'O Justice days. He received four games for blatantly elbowing Claude Giroux in 2009. This hit isn't so black and white.

So you've seen the hit and heard Perry's side - time to play jury. Vote on how you think Brendan Shanahan and the Department of Player Safety will react.

[Buddy bands to Puck Daddy's Greg Wyshynski for the first video and Eric Stephens of the OC Register for the second]

UPDATE:

Corey Perry skating as an extra on fourth line -- pretty good indication #NHLDucks expect to be without him for some length of time.

— Dan Wood (@Duckscolorman) March 13, 2013

White smoke is rising! I guess that means Brendan Shanahan has made his decision regarding Corey Perry.

— Rob Pizzo (@robpizzo) March 13, 2013