Nikita Kucherov won't miss a game, but Dalton Prout will.

The Columbus Blue Jackets defender has received a one-game suspension for the sucker punch he landed on Kucherov's chin Sunday afternoon.

Prout will forfeit almost $6,000 in salary.

Kucherov was forced from the game as a result of the blow, but will be in the lineup Tuesday when the Lightning visit the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Department of Player Safety's ruling is consistent with a January incident involving Los Angeles Kings winger Milan Lucic. He was banned one game for popping an unsuspecting Kevin Connauton after a stoppage around the Arizona Coyotes' goal.

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This one brings new meaning to the hockey phrase, "Keep your head up."

We don't know who these folks are, where they were playing, or how old they are. All we know is that we've never seen a more devastating poke check.

- With h/t to For The Win.

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The slimmer the better.

ESPN's Pierre LeBrun reports from the GM meetings in Boca Raton, Fla., that the "sense" is it's "full steam ahead" with slim-fitting streamlined equipment for goaltenders next season.

He notes that it will be NHL goaltending consultant Kay Whitmore's duty this summer to fit the league's goaltenders with new gear.

Meanwhile, PostMedia's Michael Traikos shared insight onto the punishment goaltenders could face for failing to meet the NHL's incoming standard:

A group also discussed Rule 48, or illegal checking to the head. LeBrun said the sense from those general managers is that the preference is to leave the rule - and its language - unchanged.

The topic of expansion is expected to be broached Wednesday.

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Clarke MacArthur isn't concerned with the 74 games he'll have lost to injury by the time the calendar flips to April.

MacArthur, who suffered a concussion four games into the season - and who has since been at war with the lingering effects - would be put to ease by the chance to suit up in the final four games the Ottawa Senators have scheduled this season.

"I would love to just get a few games in, to know going into the summer that things are going to be fine for next year," MacArthur said, according to Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen.

"You never know, I guess. There's no certainty to when you're going to get hit or what's going to happen, but for me, mentally, it would be nice to play some games."

MacArthur is symptom-free, but failed his concussion baseline test at the end of February, as Warren points out.

He missed six weeks with a concussion last season as well.

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Montreal Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin refused to discuss a TVA Sports report Tuesday that has head coach Michel Therrien returning next season, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

Bergevin gave his beleaguered head coach a vote of confidence in January, saying Therrien's job was safe this season.

According to the translation on the TVA Sports website, "No one in the organization is expected to see another man behind the bench next season, according to information obtained by Renaud Lavoie."

The Canadiens' fall from grace this season has been well documented. After a brilliant start, the team lost goaltender Carey Price and has been in freefall ever since. The Canadiens are nine points back of the Detroit Red Wings in the wild-card race - it's all but officially over.

Bergevin was also asked about a potential date for when Montreal will consider shutting down Price, who hasn't played since Nov. 25.

"Yeah, April 9," Bergevin said, according to Friedman.

The Canadiens host the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 9, their final game of the season.

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Watch your back, Dylan Larkin.

At a press conference Tuesday to announce that the Philadelphia Flyers will host the fifth annual CCM/USA Hockey All-American Prospects Game at the Wells Fargo Center on Sept. 22, president Paul Holmgren was asked about his team's massive game against the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night. The Flyers trail the Red Wings by three points in the Eastern Conference wild-card standings, and Holmgren chimed in with the quote of the day:

"I'd like to be a kidnapper and stick Dylan Larkin in a bathroom for at least the next few hours," Holmgren said, according to the Courier-Post's Dave Isaac.

Larkin leads the Red Wings with 20 goals and five game-winners, and his 40 points rank second on the club behind Henrik Zetterberg's 43. Not bad for a rookie campaign.

The 19-year-old has one goal in six games in March, shooting only 5.4 percent. When he contributes, the Red Wings win - he has 28 points in 33 victories this season, and only 12 points in 34 losses.

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Anthony Mantha's NHL stay won't be fleeting.

The 21-year-old former first-round pick, who will make his Detroit Red Wings debut Tuesday in a critical clash with the Philadelphia Flyers, is expected to remain with the club for the stretch run, and beyond.

Mantha has had a strange start to his professional career. He arrived at the club with an incredible scoring pedigree in Major Junior, but suffered injuries and was criticized in-house for substandard performances in his two years with the Grand Rapids Griffins.

He will begin his NHL career on a line with Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Tatar.

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