Early in the day at the Tampa Bay Lightning off-day media session, head coach Jon Cooper was asked about the status of forward Brandon Hagel. He didn’t play coy with his answer.
“Well, he’s not playing tomorrow, so there it is. And it’s, you know why.”
The “know why” was an elbow/forearm to the head of Hagel from Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad. Later in the day, the Department of Player Safety announced that Ekblad, who just finished a twenty-game suspension for PED use, was suspended for two games.
Hagel was visibly dazed as he left the ice, and he didn’t return to the game.