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PHOTO CREDITS: (nhl.com)

By: Max Mainville | Check me out on Twitter @tkdmaxbjj 

Officially announced a couple of hours ago by NHL Player Safety, Ottawa Senators’ player Mark Borowiecki has been suspended by the National Hockey League for one game due to his elbow to the head of Bruins’ blueliner, Urho Vaakanainen.

The elbow came within the first four minutes of a scoreless first period against the Senators on Tuesday night, a game where the Bruins would win by a score of 4-1. It was Vaakanainen’s second NHL game of his young career after he played in his NHL debut in the 2-1 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

Vaakanainen was recently called up to the Boston Bruins due to injuries to Kevan Miller and Charlie McAvoy. Both McAvoy and Miller were sent back to Boston before their game against Vancouver, resulting in the emergency call-up of Vaakanainen. In his debut, Urho finished with a -1 rating and one shot on goal in just under twelve-and-a-half minutes of ice time.

Vaakanainen was drafted eighteenth overall in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft by the Boston Bruins and Bruins fans have been excited to see him play in the National Hockey League ever since and rightfully so. Vaakanainen has been associated by numerous people that he could one day become Torey Krug’s replacement as an offensive defenseman on the Bruins blueline. HockeyProspects.com said the following about Urho back in 2017:

“He has good puck moving ability and strong offensive upside. He is also a good skater and can rush the puck up ice with confidence.” Hockeyprospect.com

Urho Vaakanainen was diagnosed with a concussion according to a press release by the Boston Bruins, meaning a replacement for him will be required ahead of Boston’s next game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, October 25th at 7:00pm EST. While no official word on who that replacement will be, Head Coach Bruce Cassidy shared his possible prediction on the matter:

“I don’t believe Kevan Miller will be available Thursday, Charlie I don’t think either from what I’m hearing. Krug skated, too soon for him,” said Cassidy. “We’ll have to look at Providence, see what’s the best fit for us, who’s playing well down there and go from there. “[Cody] Goloubef is a veteran guy there, he comes to mind; he’s a right shot, so balance out the let and the right. [Matt Grzelcyk] and [John] Moore together, it’s lefties. So if it’s someone to play with [Steven] Kampfer that’s a left stick, if it’s Chris Breen that’s played well, or [Jakub] Zboril, [Jeremy] Lauzon, whoever it happens to be.”

There have been reports circulating around Twitter that the Bruins may have called up prospect Jeremy Lauzon to play on the roster against the Flyers, but no official word from Boston management has been made public at this time of writing this article.

Also throughout Twitter, many people have been disagreeing with the length of Borowiecki’s suspension, feeling it should have been more than one game – with many reasons listed.

This begs the question – do you agree with the suspension? Should have it been longer? Did Player Safety make a mistake by suspending him at all? Let me know via my Twitter @tkdmaxbjj.