EDMONTON – The knock on Taylor Hall has always been the same, right from the time he got creamed as a Windsor Spitfire in the Memorial Cup: “The kid gets hit too hard. Will he be able to survive life in the National Hockey League?”

Well, Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s V.P. of Player Safety, isn’t reviewing video of someone else plastering Taylor Hall this morning. He’s trying to decide whether the Edmonton winger’s late-in-the-game knee/hip check on the Minnesota Wild’s Cal Clutterbuck is worthy of suspension.

Clutterbuck was carried off, unable to put weight on his left leg.

Edmonton #Oilers forward Taylor Hall has a disciplinary hearing this afternoon for last night’s hit on #mnwild forward Cal Clutterbuck

— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) February 22, 2013

As is always the case in these things, the Oilers locker room was full of understanding for Hall, after yet another Oilers loss on Thursday night at Rexall Place. And, of course, the Wild room wanted Hall’s head on a platter.

“To me it looked like a player who didn’t even look at the puck. It looked like he was trying to hurt a guy,” said Minnesota head coach Mike Yeo.

Replays show that the initial point of contact was Hall’s left knee on Clutterbuck’s left knee. A few hundredths of a second later, their hips makes solid contact as well.

The knee-on-knee could well be suspendable. After the game however, Clutterbuck’s knee appeared uninjured, and his thigh was wrapped.

“I really didn’t feel like it was a knee on knee at all. I felt like I got him with my hip or torso area,” said Hall.

“I could have hit him in the head, and that crossed my mind (not to do that),” he continued. “I just thought, the puck was right there, and for that instance he was a little bit vulnerable, but I didn’t want to … hit him in the head. I wanted to get a piece of him.”

We’ve seen the NHL’s Department of Player Safety react to a lot of different types of hits since its inception, but this one may be unique.

Yes, video appears to show that the first point of contact was knee on knee. But what if it is not Clutterbuck’s knee that’s hurt, as it appeared post-game?

If the hip-on-thigh portion of the check caused the injury, what then? You can’t suspend for a hard hip check, can you?

The puck was a few feet away, however. Does the interference component work against Hall (we’d say, yes)? Coupled with the knee-on-knee portion, this has one-game suspension written all over it.

Of course, in the Edmonton room, the theme was “Taylor’s not that kind of player.” History says he is not, but the only weight that carries is that Hall has no priors. If Shanahan deems this suspendable, strong character is not a factor.

“How would it be if it were reversed?” asked Yeo. “If it were Clutter hitting Taylor Hall that way?”

Fair question, but Clutterbuck has made a living hitting people. Although we could not find an instance where he was suspended, Clutterbuck is known as one of the NHL’s best and most dangerous hitters — not necessarily dirty, but dangerous — and has led the NHL in hits.

Trevor Gillies of the Islanders got 10 games for a head shot on Clutterbuck in March of 2011, while Columbus’ James Wisniewski took an eight-game suspension in preseason last year for a shot on Clutterbuck.

We’re not justifying a knee-on-knee here, but when you hit as many people as Clutterbuck does, you’d better have your head on a swivel late in a 3-1 game.

For Hall’s part, he claims not to have known who he was hitting. “The game’s so fast,” Hall said. “I see a Wild jersey – I don’t have time to really think about that. I see a guy I’d like to get the puck off of, go down and score a goal.”

Here is the EdmJou pic of Taylor Hall leading with knee on Cal Clutterbuck. Hearing this afternoon #mnwild #oilers twitter.com/Russostrib/sta…

— Michael Russo (@Russostrib) February 22, 2013

Clutterbuck flew to Calgary with the Wild post-game, a sign that his injury was likely not as severe as it first appeared.

“It sucks to see him down,” Hall said. “But I don’t really think it was that dirty.”

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