How Many Games for John Scott?

Sigh. One day, there's gonna be one week where I don't have to comment on suspensions. But that's not this week and we have another player that's likely to get a call from Brendan Shanahan about a head hit in Wednesday's Bruins-Sabres game.

Buffalo Sabres defenseman John Scott was ejected in third period Wednesday night after a hit to the head of the Bruins' Loui Eriksson, who had to be helped off the ice and taken to the dressing room. Scott got five minutes for charging and a game misconduct, as well as five minutes for fighting when the Bruins' Adam McQuaid decided to fight him. There was not an update on Eriksson after the game.

Scott has drawn attention before during the preseason when he tried to fight the Maple Leafs' star Phil Kessel, which resulted in a brawl. Kessel was suspended for three preseason games for slashing Scott twice.

Shanahan will have another go at figuring out what kind of suspension is likely for John Scott. He has just come off his fifth ruling in suspending Ryan Garbutt of the Dallas Stars for his hit on the Ducks' Dustin Penner. And this suspension will most likely be an in-person hearing. Well, I've had a string of bad luck at always predicting how many games players will be suspended. I always seem to say six to seven games, but it appears Shanahan always settles on five. Look, at one point, he's gonna have to put somebody out there for six or seven games. This was another head hit and I was surprised that Garbutt did not get six games for his head hit on Dustin Penner. So I'm expecting a six or seven game suspension to Scott. I would be surprised if he got five.