Nolan Suspended 11 Games for Hit

The NHL followed up Owen Nolan’s big hit on Grant Marshall with a heavy blow of its own.

Nolan, the Sharks’ captain and second-leading scorer, was suspended for 11 games Friday for a hit earlier this month that sent the Dallas forward to the hospital with a concussion.

The severity of the suspension stunned and enraged the Pacific Division-leading Sharks, who will be without Nolan and injured center Vincent Damphousse for nearly three weeks if Nolan’s suspension isn’t shortened on appeal.

“Owen is our best player, and I don’t think it’s right how he has been turned into a villain,” Shark General Manager Dean Lombardi said.

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The St. Louis Blues acquired right wing Scott Mellanby from Florida for junior right wing David Morisset and a conditional 2002 draft pick. Mellanby, Florida’s captain the last four seasons, had been with the Panthers since their inception in 1993. . . . New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer was put on the injured list after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee.