[getbak]

Maybe it's because I'm a klutz who doesn't always pay attention to my surroundings, but I still don't have a problem accepting his explanation that it was an accident.

YouTube is full of videos of people getting surprised or scared, and one of the most common reactions is to throw your hands up and push away whatever is unexpectedly coming towards you. If you're holding a stick in your hands at the time, it's going to look like a crosscheck.

In some ways, he's the victim of bad timing. In most cases, this would have been dealt with quickly and been resolved before it became a big story. Instead, this happened in the last night of games before the All-Star break, and the off-week in the NFL before the Super Bowl, so there hasn't been much to talk about in the sports world for almost a week. As a result, everyone and their dog has watched and rewatched the clip and commented on it numerous times.


Just because of the optics of it at this point, I think he'll get 10 games.


From the Flames' perspective, I'm almost hoping he gets a really long suspension so the Flames can request he be given non-roster status so they can call up Nakladal to take his spot. Even without recalling Nakladal, maybe giving Smid and Engelland a lot of playing time over the next couple of weeks might drum up some interest on the trade market for one or both of them.

This could end up being a blessing in disguise for the Flames (and they're not likely to get much worse without Wideman in the lineup).