[Beninho]

Thought this was a good analysis on Hf about the Gio hit and if it's suspendable, from a neutral fan. Would be ridiculous if Gio is suspended imo.

"In determining whether contact with an opponent's head was avoidable, the circumstances of the hit including the following shall be considered:
(i) Whether the player attempted to hit squarely through the opponent’s body and the head was not "picked" as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach, or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward

Giordano certainly seemed to "attempt" to hit squarely through the body, and for the most part, he did. He certainly did not "pick" the head. There was full body contact.

(ii) Whether the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.

You could definitely make the case that the opponent put himself in a vulnerable position. Skated into the slot with his head down. Giordano hit through the core.

iii) Whether the opponent materially changed the position of his body or head immediately prior to or simultaneously with the hit in a way that significantly contributed to the head contact.

You could also make the case that Giordano lined him up and he cut inside. Either way, he still got a good piece of him, and the head contact was supplemental to a full body check.

There seems to be a lot of automatic thinking in this thread that if the head is the "principal point of contact" (which by the way - those specific words were removed from the rule book years back) that it's automatically a headshot. It isn't. The above provisions provide exceptions to when head contact is not illegal. This is for obvious reasons, because if you skate straight at a player with your head down, he either checks straight through you, taking the head first, or lets you go past.

I would be shocked if there is any supplemental discipline on this one. I am as far removed from a Giordano fan as it gets, and I don't even think this was a penalty - and apparently the referee who was looking right at it at the time agreed, at least initially, because he never even bothered to raise an arm."