Illegal Check to the Head

An illegal check to the head is a punishable with either a two-minute minor penalty, a combination five-minute major penalty and game misconduct, or a match penalty.

As of the start of the 2010-11 NHL season, any form of “lateral or blind side hit to an opponent, where the player’s head is targeted and/or the principal point of contact” is punishable with a combination five-minute major penalty and game misconduct, due to the increasing concern following concussion injuries to NHL players following incidents such as David Booth and Marc Savard’s concussions in the 2009-10 NHL season.

A second incident of this type caused by the same player in a season (or post-season playoffs) results in an automatic suspension for the following game their team plays, with the potential for increasing durations of suspension from active play, for any subsequent checks to opposing players’ head areas.