Rangers defenseman suspended two games for elbowing

With the Rangers playing Saturday night, the Department of Player Safety needed to make a quick ruling following their disciplinary hearing with defenseman Jacob Trouba.  That ruling has now been made as the league announced that the blueliner has been suspended for two games for his elbow on Golden Knights winger Pavel Dorofeyev.  The incident occurred late in the second period and no penalty was called on the play.

In the video announcing the suspension, the league acknowledged that elbows can be raised as part of a natural motion when skating, stopping or making a play on the puck.  However, with the incident occurring off a faceoff, Trouba was deemed to not be making a play on the puck while his elbowing motion was not viewed as a natural motion while skating.

This is Trouba’s second career suspension while he has also been fined twice; that history was noted in the disciplinary video.  He will miss tonight’s game against Ottawa as well as their first game back after the break on Feb. 5 versus Colorado.  Trouba will be eligible to return on Feb. 7th against Tampa Bay.  Based on his AAV, he will forfeit a little over $83K in salary; that money will go to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.