Bowman, Hawks react to Carcillo suspension

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Updated: Thursday, Jan. 5, 6:31 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA -- The NHL handed down its suspension for Blackhawks forward Daniel Carcillo on Wednesday night. Now the Blackhawks will have to deal with his absence for a whilewith suspension and also with injury.

The Blackhawks made their return to Philadelphia minus Carcillo, who was suspended seven games for his hit on Edmonton defenseman Tom Gilbert on Monday. The suspension starts today for Carcillo, who also suffered an apparent left-knee injury on that hit.

General manager Stan Bowman said the Blackhawks are still looking at options with Carcillos injury.

Obviously hes not going to play for a little bit. With injuries you have to decide, is rehab going to get it to where it needs to go or not? said Bowman, who added surgery could be another option. Were not there yet.

Coach Joel Quenneville said he saw Brendan Shanahans video explanation of the suspension and does not argue it.

Thats the way it is with it, said Quenneville. His track record probably didnt help him at all and the fact a guy got hurt, theres a fine line he has to watch and we have to be aware of as well. He plays hard and well deal with it.

This is the 10th time Carcillo has been fined or suspended in his NHL career. Hes already served two suspensions this season; his last one was a two-game hiatus after his hit on Carolina defenseman Joni Pitkanen.

Its a fast game on the ice; things happen. Neither of those plays was there intent to injure players, Bowman said. Weve seen some other suspensions where guys are trying to get back at guys, elbows to the head, those kinds of things. If those happened, wed have to focus on that. From that perspective, these things happen and thats why Brendan is a busy guy.

The league has been busy with suspensions this season; Carcillo is the latest. But the Blackhawks will deal with it.

Its tough to see that happening around the league. I know it was a counter hit, but thats the way the league looks at it, Bryan Bickell said. Its tough to see what happened to him and what happened with the suspension. But we have to look past that and move on.

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