Brendan Lemieux facing a huge suspension for biting Brady Tkachuk.

I thought the optics of this situation might rub the National Hockey League the wrong way, but given the announcement that has just been made it seems I may have vastly underestimated just how angry the NHL is about this incident.

First, let's get to the news. According to an official announcement from the NHL's Department of Player Safety, Los Angeles Kings forward Brendan Lemieux has been offered an in-person hearing for biting Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk. Perhaps the most damning part of the announcement however is that the league has set no date and no time for this meeting, an indication that Lemieux is in for one hell of a suspension.

I must also add here that in person hearings are reserved for situations in which the league plans to hand out a lengthy ban. 6 games or more is the requirement for an in person hearing, so it sounds like they intend to throw the book at Lemieux for this incident.

Brady Tkachuk himself was, unsurprisingly, very upset at the fact that Lemieux had bit him the way he did. Following the game a furious Tkachuk unloaded on Lemieux in his post game comments and did so in a way that is not typical from the Senators captain.

The incident began as a scrum between a number of players on both sides of the ice. It lasted only a few seconds but when most of the dust had settled, Tkachuk and Lemieux were still going at it at the edge of the pack. Eventually the two men would wrestle one another to the ground, and it was there that the bite would occur. Suddenly, as the two men were wrestling for position on the ice and throwing the occasional punch, the look on the face of Tkachuk changed completely and he began to gesture towards his hand.

Tkachuk would rise to his feet and continued to be extremely vocal with the officials while gesturing at his hand, something that is not typical for him, and as he turned his hand over to show the officials we got the first look at what we now know to be bite marks.

Here's the replay: