NHL Player Safety announces Darnell Nurse's punishment for hit on Quinton Byfield

Along with the announcement of the suspension to Darnell Nurse, Player Safety also released an explanation for their decision.

News broke that the NHL would hold a hearing for Darnell Nurse this morning, and now they've delivered the full verdict and an explanation.

All hockey fans have seen these nasty high cross checks in recent seasons, and even Oilers fans can admit that a suspension is warranted.

Nurse made direct and forceful contact with his first high cross check on Byfield, and then delivered another hit to the back of the head while he was down on the ice. The Oilers defender clearly got carried away with his actions.

Quinton Byfield was ruled out of the remainder of the game with injury, and the Kings have yet to provide a further injury update on him. That doesn't help Nurse's case with a suspension, and it would be terrible if he missed time in the playoffs.

Connor McDavid was suspended 3 games earlier this year for a high cross check on Connor Garland. There's countless other examples for precedent on these cross checks, also including McDavid being checked by Zadorov in the playoffs last year.

It's surely a lucky break for the Oilers that Nurse will be available for game 1 of the playoffs. Hopefully, Byfield will be healthy as well.