Mottau suspended for two games; Madden staying home

Devils defenseman Mike Mottau was suspended for two games by the NHL today for his hit on the Islanders Frans Nielsen in the third period of Friday night's game.

Mottau had a noon conference call hearing with the NHL.

He did not accompany the team on its flight to Tampa Bay today and will miss Sunday's game against the Lightning and Wednesday's game at Florida. Mottau will forfeit $8,198.92 in salary for the two games missed. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

Nielsen suffered injuries to his right knee and head from the hit. Mottau was assessed a two-minute minor for elbowing.

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Center John Madden will miss his second game in a row Sunday because of a bruised left ankle and also did not accompany the team on its flight to Tampa this afternoon.

With both Madden and Mottau out, the Devils will probably call someone up from Lowell for Sunday's game.

Comments

[J-Remy]

This makes sense. I was expecting at least one game.
The hit wasnt Mottau's fault, and he is by no means a dirty player. It was just unlucky that Nielsen was moving too quickly by the time Mottau reached him. Hope Nielsen is well.
Good call by the NHL. Keep enforcing hits to the head, regardless of who it is. But lets not remove hitting entirely!

[Jake]

Ah, I'm sure it wasn't intentional, but it needed to happen.

[FOTC]

Bullcrap. Did the Devils call up anyone?

[DevilBoy]

I'm not trying to make excuses, but it looked like an accident. Mike realized that Neilsen was drifting to the right, so Mike stretched to complete his hit. At the same time, Neilsen looked to be dodging the hit so he lowered himself causing Mottau's elbow to hit Neilsen's head.

That plus the fact that Trent Hunter went after Mottau evened everything out.

In any event, I understand the NHL wants to make sure players understand that stuff like elbows to the head wont be tolerated.

But my count has Mottau with 4 penalties this season, two of which were last night. The other two was Interference (Game 1) and Tripping (Game 13)... not exactly up there in the Goon category.

[modnarm]

ah its.. "lower leg soreness".. out for 3 months probably ha. jk

[Jeremy]

This was a terrible call by the league. Doug Weights hit on Sutter was 10x worse. Just because Guerin opens his mouth the league suspends Mottau. I really think that Colin Campbell has something against the Devils. Every time there is a chance to screw the Devils it happens. Whether it be a goal decision or a suspension, we always seem to be on the wrong end of the stick.

[Pat D]

I wonder who will get the call?

[Jill]

I understand - the league is trying to get a message across. This doesn't make Mottau a dirty player, and I'm not really concerned...if they're going to suspend one person for a hit they have to suspend them all, it makes sense.

I'm just concerned about the fact that now we're down two MORE players on Sunday night. Just when things start looking good, more players go down. Hopefully Madden will only have to miss tomorrow's game and he'll be fine.

[Kellyn]

Colin Campbell is a a tool and his disciplinary committee is a farce. It's good to see that we've now started down the road of suspending players for hits that accidentally result in another player getting hurt regardless of whether or not there was any ill intent. I mean, if Bettman, Campbell and all the other idiots in charge are going to ruin this game in order to make in more appealing to casual fans with no real interest in hockey they might as well not hold back and make a complete job of it.

And it wouldn't surprise me if Campbell did have some sort of bias against the Devils. He was coach of the Rangers for three years in the late '90s after all. I'm sorry, but this really hacks me off. I just hope the Devils continue to play the way they are playing and don't let this get them down. Going out there and doing well despite all the players they are missing due to injury and stupid suspensions would be the biggest 'piss off' they could give to the league, who hates it when the Devils and their 'boring' style of defensively sound hockey do well.

[Mike]

I don't think that MM hit him that hard, but he may have injured his leg. Who cares how many penalties the guy has. You don't get suspensions b/c of your track record. I think this seems just about fair.

[Robbie]

So why did Doug Weight walk-scot free?

[DevilBoy]

Mike, his "track record" is not what I'm talking about. I'm simply stating that he is not out there to mow guys down. He didn't hit Nielsen looking to knock out a few teeth. He was looking for the open ice hit and by Neilsens movements, he missed and got his head.

[Guy]

2 games sounds fair, and i am sure many people who saw the game was expecting it to happen. I am wondering who might get the call as well. Maybe Brookbank will move to D again, and the Devils will call in an extra forward for 4th line duty. They'll never get any minutes anyway.

[brian]

hopefully eckford gets the call up but they might just move brookbank to d and go from there

[Puckster]

I assume Brookbank will play defense the next two games and they'll call up someone to play with Tallackson and Vrana on the fourth line until Madden returns.

[TheMetalChick]

Doug Weight walked away because his hit was one hundred percent legal- anyone who doesnt see that doesnt know a thing about hockey. Open your eyes and LOOK.

THIS hit may not have been intentional, but regardless of that it WAS illegal. Huge difference.

And the fact that he is only getting 2 games for this while Polk got more than double that for HIS unintentional hit is proof positive that Campbell is indeed a no-good biased a***hole. Once a Rangers coach, always a Rangers coach. F him.

[Frankie D]

Yeah... it makes most sense to put brookbank back on defense. Then they just have to call up someone to play 4 minutes a game on the 4th line... maybe patrick davis again

[Mike]

DevilBoy,

Why does it matter if he wasn't out there to "mow the guy down"??? He caught him up high and that's the only thing that matters. So are you saying that in Pandolfo did it he shouldn't get suspended b/c he gets 10 PIM a year??? He hit the guy up high and got suspended. It was a dumb play, but it happened. End of story.

[Puckster]

They have a lot of options. I doubt it'll be Bergfors. I think they probably sent him down so that he gets some quality minutes in Lowell.

It could be Davis, PL3, Pelley, DiSalvatore, Rheaume (though he may have to clear waivers). They may even call Jay Leach back up and go with 7 defensemen. I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

[Robbie]

I wouldn't mind seeing Jay Leach again

[Evans]

@robbie

because he doesn't play for devils, the team that "ruined hockey" yet when the rangers do it, its called "Good Defense". To be honest when mike laid the hit down on frans, frans injured him self more then mattau did. He kneeled down to try and soften the hit resulting in his knee hitting the hard rather then his should . and if he hadnt kneeled down mottaus hit would have been to his shoulder.

i dont think that a was dirty hit. and if it was i feel weight should have a 10-12 game suspension considering his hit was far worse

[Tiffany]

If they call anyone up, I think it would be Pelley. He's back from his injury, and had two goals and an assist in Lowell's today.

[Robbie]

@tiffany

Why would they call up Pelley when they have Vrana, Berfors and Tallackson?

[PariseScoresAgain]

Bergfors is in Lowell he had a goal today
I personally wanna see vasyunov get a call up he had an assist on Bergfor's goal

I think they dont call up anyone except maybe Leach

[TheMetalChick]

Well you proved it, robbie- you know nothing about hockey. At all. Zilch. Enjoy viewing the world through your red tinted glasses. At least there are other Devs fans who arent as clueless.