Stars Daily October 13: What do you think of Hanzal's hit on Weber?

Stars center Martin Hanzal received a five-minute interference penalty for a hit on Predators defenseman Yannick Weber in the first period of a 4-1 loss on Thursday.

There was obvious head contact on the play, that can’t be denied. The point of initial contact was Hanzal’s shoulder, while his elbow followed through. Then there is the fact that Weber was leaning forward for the puck and thus put himself in a more vulnerable position.

Hanzal hit on Weber. 5 minute major for this hit. pic.twitter.com/29jAHbTjyu

— Dylan Nadwodny (@dnadders) October 13, 2017

After the game Ken Hitchcock said he felt it was a good hit. So did Hanzal’s teammates. Hanzal said he hadn’t watched the replay, but felt he was in the right because Weber was playing the puck.

Watching last night, it seems like the reaction was split somewhat 50-50 on this ruling. There were some calling for a game misconduct for Hanzal, while others thought it shouldn’t have been a penalty.

What do you think of the hit? Feel free to vote in the poll and discuss in comments.

Penalty crackdown

The Stars penalty kill has been very good this season, it’s just been forced into action too frequently.

Through four games the Stars have been assessed with 46 penalty minutes. If you take out Stephen Johns’ fighting major from last night, that’s 41 minutes of penalties have directly impacted how many players on the ice — teams can’t average more than 10 penalty minutes a game and have sustained success in the NHL.

Take last night for example. While killing seven minutes of penalties in the first period was a confidence booster for Dallas, it would have been much better to have an additional seven minutes of five-on-five play.

I understand that part of this comes with NHL rule adjustments and referees, but overall as a team the Stars need cut down the time they’re spending in the box.

Housekeeping Notes

— The mailbag comes out around 10 a.m. today. It’s loaded with questions, thanks to everyone who submitted them.

— Recording the podcast at some point today. It should be posted this evening.

Today’s Schedule

The Stars practice at 1 p.m. in Frisco. It is open to the public.