O'Donnell suspended for first two games

I have no problem with the suspension. A small price to pay to have a great example shown to the youndsters about what to do in that situation. This whole situation might actually be beneficial for the Kings long term.

Hammond Says Goodbye to Daily news

http://kings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=499527&navid=DL|LAK|home

Well worth it to let the league know there will be no more cheap shots on Doughty or any of our skilled guys for that matter.

I guess I have to see video to judge this. However, if someone hit Ovi, Sid, Malkin and another team mate stuck up for them the way Sean did, would their be a serious consequence like this? I don't know...

This suspension is utter garbage, and proves that you can do anything against the Kings without fear of suspension. If the Kings retaliate at all, it's five games or even more. I've seen too much of this anti-Kings bias over the last 30+ years of being a Kings fan, and if they want this league to go beyond that of the WWE in terms of their punishment, they better make the punishment actually fit the crime, ESPECIALLY if a goon injures a King.

Pronger would have received 2 games, but who cares? This is something that needed to be done. OD loses 25K, but what do you think DL will do next summer when OD asks to come back for a cup run? Besides, Martinez or Hickey will get a couple of games, OD gets some time off and Rich will get a great interview in the press box.
Video, Rich, video. If the league reviewed it, there has to be video.

Drew needs to learn to stick up for himself - until that happens guys are going to run him - he had a breakout year and he's a target for intimidation - bogosian had the same happen to him last yr and ended up with brashear now i'm not advocating he drop the gloves with heavyweights but anybody else he needs to go with and show that he can deal with this himself- or he is going to develop a reputation that you don't want to have at any level of hockey and then guys are going to really start taking liberties with him - at least that's how i see it-

Not surprising, although I thought it would be at least three games. Good for O'Donnell, and good for the Kings. We didn't do squat last year, and now we're making the statement that we're not gonna let you go after our guys. Two regular-season games without him I think is a fair price, and it'll give Hickey a chance to get a couple games under his belt.

All in all, this suspension will definitely have a positive long-term benefit for this club, and I'm proud of OD for sticking up for our star defenseman.

Sorry Dirtmover...you are only partially right.

Not every player has the ability to stick up for himself, and I don't know about you, but I don't want Drew Doughty breaking his hand on some meathead's head because that jackass is trying to make the NYI's.

You have guys like Sean O'Donnel on your team to do things like this, so that guys like Drew Doughty do NOT have to go out and fight.

Should they if the situation warrants it (i.e. huge brawls?). Your damn right they should...should they just because some plugger who is fighting for a spot on an ECHL roster tries to take his head off? Hell no!

I think Doughty handled himself fine last year. He never looked to shy away from hits or physical play anywhere on the ice..
I would expect him to drop the gloves in certain situations, but he's a guy we can ill-afford to have sitting out 5 min.
If someone runs Kopitar, I expect one of our tough guys to take care of the situation..same as OD did.

The suspension sucks, but he did his job.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think OD still counts as part of the 23-man roster for opening night, meaning we'll most likely see Harrold playing D the first two games.

Unless Hickey impresses more than Drewiske, which doesn't seem likely and time is ticking, I can't see the kings playing him as the 7th man. That's pretty much Harrold's spot since Hickey could play top pairing minutes in Manch.

The lineup could temporarily look like:

Doughty-Scuderi
Johnson-Drewiske
Green-Harrold

This is a perfect example of why the 3rd man instigator rule needs to go, before the rule if you so much as touched a star player you would have the opposing teams goon set you straight.
Many kudos to OD for sticking up for his partner.

I agree with mrbrett, but it is not a good sign to see suspensions handed out in the pre-season. The league sends a message that dirty hits are a part of the game, and that protection of your players will lead to consequences. The fact that it was some ECHL hack just makes the matter more annoying.