Ryan Smyth says men's league hit among hardest he's ever taken

Ryan Smyth doesn't seem satisfied with the 16-game suspension levied for a blindside hit that knocked him out during a recent Alberta senior hockey league playoff game.

The former NHLer was unsuspectingly leveled by opposition forward Kyle Sheen while playing for the Stony Plain Eagles, and suffered a concussion while his teeth were pushed back and his lip was separated in three places.

Smyth, who retired from the NHL in 2014, told Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal he's been hit that hard only once before, suffering a concussion and a separated shoulder on a check by Jack Johnson when he was a member of the Colorado Avalanche in 2008.

Smyth referred to the latest hit as a cheap shot, and would have liked to see Sheen get a stiffer sentence.

"Looking at it, it probably could have been more," he said. "It’s just not right. You go out to try to enjoy the game. There is a Cup involved (the Allan Cup, awarded to the national senior amateur men’s ice hockey champions) but you play within the boundaries."

Smyth added he received a text but no formal apology from Sheen, and is uncertain whether he can return to competitive hockey this spring, or even at all, taking into account his long-term health, his family, and the fact he's no longer playing for an NHL franchise.