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So remember that hit Friday night that Brad Stuart of the Sharks put on Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog? The one that the league deemed OK partly because Landeskog wasn't hurt on the hit and returned to the game?

Of course you do. The decision hasn't changed -- Stuart wasn't suspended and he won't be suspended retroactively -- but things with Landeskog have. He's not going to play for the Avalanche on Monday night, and according to Mark Spector of Sportsnet, the reason goes back to that hit.

So for those keeping score at home, Landeskog is now suffering head injuries (and injuries to his legs). In the NHL, "head injury" has become synonymous with concussions, it seems, so many are making that jump, even if a bit premature. Landeskog did return in the game, coming back shortly after the hit, and said afterward that he was OK. Clearly, that's changed.

We are still learning some things about concussions and head injuries. They aren't always felt right away. That's why they have preventative measures such as mandatory visits to the quiet room to help in case the player was concussed. The Avalanche are taking some heat right now for letting Landeskog return to the game so quickly, and rightfully so.

That's not to say we know he has a concussion yet -- to be very clear, we don't know that -- but even if it's just a "head injury" (not sure what it could be, but we'll play along) you have to try to take some precautionary measures. When a player takes a hit such at that and is a bit slow to get up, you have to be safe.

If a player did suffer an injury, then it can be recognized early and damage can be minimized. If he didn't suffer an injury, the worst thing that happened was a player was out of the game for a few minutes. There's a reason why the protocol exists.

Then there's the whole discipline issue. This is just another reason why the injurious nature of the hit in question is such an awful criterion in the discipline process. Because Landeskog returned to the game and appeared to be OK, Stuart was off the hook for his hit. If Landeskog were unable to return to the game at that time, does anybody think Stuart would have escaped discipline-free? Not me.

Injuries sometimes pop up later, just like this case, and so the injury outcome should have no bearing. As always it should be about the intent or the potential for injury, not if the players were lucky or not.

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