Canadiens Byron suspended three games for hit to head

The National Hockey League has slapped Montreal Canadiens forward Paul Byron with a three-game ban for an illegal hit on Florida Panthers defenceman MacKenzie Weegar, the league confirmed Wednesday. Byron was given a charging penalty on the play in the second period of the Canadiens 5-1 win over the Panthers on Tuesday.Weegar is being monitored by team doctors for a possible concussion after Byron’s shoulder hit him in the head knocking Weegar’s helmet off. “There is no reason why the shoulder of Byron should be making direct and forceful contact with Weegar’s head,” a spokesman for the league’s disciplinary committee said on Wednesday.This is the first suspension in Byron’s 397-game NHL career. Byron will also forfeit $19,000 of his salary and will miss games against Columbus, against Philadelphia and Arizona. He’ll be eligible to return on February 2 against New Jersey.NHL ends bid to hold 2020 World Cup of HockeyThe National Hockey League announced on Wednesday that it has shelved plans for a World Cup of Hockey tournament in 2020 following a meeting with the players’ union. The league and the NHL Players’ Association met earlier Wednesday in Toronto to see if a 2020 event could be part of the next collective bargaining talks.Both sides issued statements saying talks would continue with the hope of eventually holding another World Cup in the future. “While the parties have now jointly concluded that it is no longer realistic to try to schedule a World Cup of Hockey for the fall of 2020, they plan to continue their dialogue with a hope of being able to schedule the next World Cup event as part of a broader agreement, which would include a long-term international event calendar,” the NHL said in a statement.While the Olympic hockey tournament and the World Ice Hockey Championships are organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation, the World Cup of Hockey is run by the NHL. There have been three World Cup of Hockey tournaments with the last one taking place in 2016.Others were held in 2004 and 1996. Over the past few months the league and the union have begun informal labour talks. Owners or the players can choose to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement in September. The current agreement runs until 2022 unless one side chooses to terminate it early.