Patrick Kaleta Suspended For Four Games For Headbutting

by Zachary Zielonka on Nov 3, 2011 5:39 PM EDT

Patrick Kaleta is at it again as he has just been handed down a four game suspension for headbutting Jakub Voracek during the first period of the Flyers game on Wednesday night. Here is the explanation video from the Senior Vice President of Player Safety, Brendan Shanahan:

We really have no argument with this explanation because for the first time in a long time, there is an explanation. This quote from Shanahan at the 1:15 mark of the video really sums up the whole situation: "This recent history of ramming his head into the face of his opponents, regardless of whether he is trying to free the puck, leads us to believe that this act was intentional." Kaleta will be eligible to return against the Boston Bruins on November 12th.

With Kaleta now out of action, the Sabres are going to have to do something to replace him. With Ennis and Hecht still on the mend, the Sabres may have to call someone up from Rochester to replace Kaleta. The Americans are being led in offense by Derek Whitmore with eight points and Corey Tropp and Zack Kassian with seven points. Kassian is going to be a fan favorite to see in the lineup as well because Kassian plays his game much like Kaleta does but with more scoring finesse. The Sabres don't have a lot of cap space either, according to CapGeek it is at $54,643, so the other option for the team could be just playing Marc-Andre Gragnani on the wing for the four games.

So who would you like to see replace Kaleta for the next four games.

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Oy Vey!

I knew we were capped out but didn’t realize it was THAT low. Kaleta’s spark will be highly missed, especially for a team looking for any sort of positive energy play these days.

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by riverssyr on Nov 3, 2011 5:57 PM EDT reply actions

It would definitely be nice to see Kassian get a shot here.

by TNash on Nov 3, 2011 5:59 PM EDT reply actions

It looks like Tropp is getting the call.

D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere

by David Oleksy on Nov 3, 2011 6:07 PM EDT reply actions

Well deserved. Tropp has been playing well for awhile and I liked him the preseason. I think Kassian would have been the logical conclusion, because it’s Kaleta, but Tropp is equally good at getting suspended. IIRC he was suspended for the entire rest of the season for something he did at Michigan State.

by Philaster on Nov 3, 2011 6:16 PM EDT up reply actions

I think they went with Tropp and not Kassian

because they’ll be asking Tropp to fill a role that will likely be his future; bottom-half winger who can grind out a shift with some offensive touch and a physical presence. Kassian profiles as a top-half winger.

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Nov 3, 2011 8:04 PM EDT up reply actions

I see Tropp as being the best person to possibly replace Jochen Hecht in the long-term. Maybe their auditioning him for that. They don’t really have another guy like that in the system, with the possible exception of Gregg Sutch, and he’s still a long way off.

by Philaster on Nov 4, 2011 1:05 AM EDT up reply actions

That makes sense.

Hecht basically is what I described Tropp’s future role to be except maybe the physical part.

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Nov 4, 2011 1:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Hecht role

What was Hecht`s role on the team??? Scoring 13 goals while playing top-six minutes? Taking stupid penalties at inopportune times? He was very good at taking a dumb penalty when the Sabres were shorthanded. Give him credit though, he made Connolly look good when Connolly had to kill the 5 on 3!!! Being on the ice with the team with a 1 goal lead in the last minute of the game and have the other team tie the game up???

Needless to say, I hope that Tropp turns out to be a better hockey player than Hecht.

by BUBLSRM on Nov 4, 2011 11:11 AM EDT up reply actions

Ya OK. So you just chose to completely ignore Hecht’s stellar 2-way play. He plays a very effective defensive role, plays hard and adds a touch of offense to it as well. How is that possibly a bad player to have?
Yeh, paid a bit too much, but so are 80% of NHLers.

by JSCoope on Nov 4, 2011 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions

First of all, over the last 5 years, he averaged 17 goals, 23 assists which is pretty good for a bottom-six forward (which he was)

and second of all, he was a Swiss army knife of hockey players in that he could be trusted in just about any situation. You obviously don’t like him, but that doesn’t make him a useless or bad player.

Save Jenrry Mejia!

by Ogre39666 on Nov 4, 2011 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions

With Hecht on IR

We can spend up to $68.2 million in cap space, since we are allowed for cap overages. What this does mean is that when Hecht comes of thef IR, we must be below the $64.7 million cap ceiling or else we would be penalized next season.

"We’re gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we’re gonna win it again,"
-Terry Pegula

by bgred105 on Nov 3, 2011 6:27 PM EDT reply actions

That’s Long-Term Injured Reserve which Hecht hasn’t been designated for. He still counts against the cap at the moment.

Die By The Blade - Where we've even turned ourselves around since January 1st.

by Zachary Zielonka on Nov 3, 2011 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Gotcha…so is this an emergency call-up then? If it isn’t, wouldn’t we be exceeding the cap limit?

"We’re gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we’re gonna win it again,"
-Terry Pegula

by bgred105 on Nov 3, 2011 11:21 PM EDT up reply actions

I was under the impression that he’d get put on automatically because its been 24 days since the start of the season and there’s no reason not to now.

Mike Weber Pressbox Incarceration Status: FREED. The league is doomed.
"Had miller played the rest of the game facing that many shots, he’d have ended up with 120 shots against"

by Ubiquitous on Nov 4, 2011 10:46 AM EDT up reply actions

That is what I thought as well….here is a link that explains it as well:

http://proicehockey.about.com/od/learnthegame/a/nhl_salary_cap.htm

Long-Term Injuries:
- A player expected to miss at least 10 games and 24 days due to injury can be listed as a long-term injury (LTI).
- An LTI can be covered by replacement players, as long as the replacement salaries do not exceed the salary of the injured player.
- If the replacement salaries would push a team over the salary cap, the team is allowed cap relief, but only for the portion of the salary that exceeds the cap.
- When the injured player returns, the team must immediately comply with the normal terms of the salary cap.

Therefore, I agree with Ubi and think he automatically is placed on LTI at this point…which may explain why he was not explicitly declared to be on LTIR.

"We’re gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we’re gonna win it again,"
-Terry Pegula

by bgred105 on Nov 4, 2011 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions

Capgeek also has this updated information with Hecht’s salary as a LTIR bonus.

http://www.capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=8

"We’re gonna win the Stanley Cup. Then, you know what, we’re gonna win it again,"
-Terry Pegula

by bgred105 on Nov 4, 2011 12:33 PM EDT up reply actions

B-lo fan

As a Buffalo fan this is no surprise that we get bent over the table once again. Patrick gets 4 games for that and dude that chopped at the back of D Roy’s knee in the last buck 40 of the game skates free. With no time in the box either. Maybe we will get some good karma/calls in this weekends Jets @ Bills game. I won’t hold my breathe.

Cup is ours this year.

by North Java Sabra on Nov 3, 2011 6:56 PM EDT reply actions

I was a huge kaleta fan and almost purchased his jersey. But after the last head butt incident I’ve cooled off on Patty K. I love the grit, the energy, the hustle, the goal celebration, I love seeing him drop left bombs sticking up for his teammates, but there are just some things that I don’t respect and I believe are inexcusable. Head butting isn’t cool, its down right dirty. I’m glad Pat the Rat was suspended.

Oh, and I don’t like the idea of saying Pat shouldn’t have been suspended because of Claude’s slash was just equally as dirty. I thought the play was dirty and I thought there should have been a penalty assessed, but what Pat did was still wrong and he deserved more than a 2 minute minor.

"If we needed any more motivation to win a Cup sooner than later, we've got one now," Black said. "I really want to listen to the game that RJ calls when he finally gets to shout out, 'Buffalo wins the Stanley Cup.'"

by FloridaBuffalo on Nov 3, 2011 7:09 PM EDT via mobile reply actions

I agree

This is what I said on Twitter today…
Kaleta deserved every bit of his suspension, and probably more. I just wish the league would be equally as vigilant with stick fouls.

I think that sums it up. They are making a stand on head shots, but go ahead and take someone out at the knees, we don’t care. They are obviously letting public perception make the difficult decisions. I would rather go back to Campbell who didn’t suspend anyone and when he did they were light suspensions. Shanahan is proving to be more of joke than he was.

D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere

by David Oleksy on Nov 3, 2011 7:21 PM EDT up reply actions 2 recs

The suspension to Kaleta immediately made me wonder why there was no suspension for the butt-end spike to Vanek’s eye.

"I could have conquered Europe, all of it, but I had women in my life." - King Henry II of England

by Calvert on Nov 3, 2011 8:30 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I never saw what exactly happened to Vanek’s eye, Just saw he was in a scrum. Anyone have video of this butt-end spike?

by FloridaBuffalo on Nov 4, 2011 12:56 AM EDT up reply actions

I think that happened in the heat of the moment. Not too concerned about that hit. I am mostly concerned about the blatant two hand slash to the back of Roy’s leg by Giroux. That was a blatantly dirty play that went unpunished, both in the game and with supplemental discipline.

D.O.
www.diebytheblade.com - An SB nation destination for Sabres fans everywhere

by David Oleksy on Nov 4, 2011 10:59 AM EDT up reply actions

League "Rules"

Speaking of the league, what is the deal with the lack of interference and holding post lockout style. The game has evolved right back to where it was before the lockout with so many holds and no speed and openness to the game. I really loved the evolution of speed and long passes. It’s frustrating

by billsfan26 on Nov 3, 2011 10:23 PM EDT up reply actions

Relax dude

by buzzin on Nov 3, 2011 8:36 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

The butt head suspended for another head butt.

by JSCoope on Nov 3, 2011 9:39 PM EDT reply actions

Honestly I’ve never really noticed him do that, wow haha

by billsfan26 on Nov 3, 2011 10:18 PM EDT reply actions

C'mon Patty!!

Hitting someone with your head like a ram probably isn’t to smart for someone with neck problems. Not to mention illegal and dirty. Totally deserved what he got and maybe he will stop doing stupid shit like this in the future. Just keep finishing your checks and get under peoples skin like you have been doing all of your career. Not this dirty play…. C’mon Patty!

Rookies are like teabags...you don't know what you're gonna get until you put them in hot water. -Harry Neale

by weswed51 on Nov 3, 2011 10:29 PM EDT reply actions

I will stick up for Kaleta as a player 99% of the time. I like his style of play a lot. But he needs to be more disciplined in not crossing that line. He should have learned his lesson after the Devils game. I am disappointed in him for regressing back to that style of play, up until last night I thought he had really improved that aspect of his game. I guess the Flyers bring out the worst in him.

by lassathrax on Nov 4, 2011 12:14 AM EDT reply actions

I think it’s harder to play disciplined in the kind of game like last night.

by Philaster on Nov 4, 2011 12:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Agree with both.

Go Sabres!

by drwho62 on Nov 4, 2011 8:11 AM EDT up reply actions

I can understand how that can be dangerous and should be penalized, but I can imagine something like that happening against the boards in every game and not being caught…

by Binthet on Nov 4, 2011 7:48 AM EDT reply actions

I think it happens more times than not in games but I think the league and Shanny have had Kaleta in their crosshairs for sometime. I think it was only a matter of time that Kaleta was going to be suspended by the league. At the same time, a player like an Ovie or a Crosby would have gotten away with it.

by BUBLSRM on Nov 4, 2011 10:07 AM EDT up reply actions