March 31--As of Thursday afternoon, the NHL and Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith had not arranged a time and date for Keith's hearing with the Department of Player Safety to review Keith high-sticking match penalty Tuesday against Wild center Charlie Coyle.
The hearing could be as soon as Thursday or even early next week, a source said.
Per NHL match penalty rules, Keith remains indefinitely suspended until the NHL issues a ruling. Any games Keith misses while awaiting a hearing will count toward a potential suspension.
Ideally the league would like to have the matter resolved before the Hawks' next game against the Jets on Friday and that was the expectation after Keith committed the penalty, but if a hearing is scheduled for next week, Keith is ineligible to play in any Hawks games up until that point.
The league offered Keith an in-person hearing for his infraction in which he swung his stick and connected with Coyle's face in the Hawks' 4-1 loss. Coyle had a cut on his nose but returned to the game.
An in-person hearing means Keith could face a suspension of six games or more, which means Keith could miss some games in the playoffs. The Hawks have five regular-season games remaining.
