By now, we've all seen both the massive hit Rangers rookie defenseman Ryan Lindgren laid on Colorado's Joonas Donskoi, as well as the fight between Lindgren and Donskoi's teammate Nazem Kadri.

In the days following the hit, Lindgren would face both stitching under his right eye from the fight with Kadri, and a disciplinary hearing from the NHL Department of Player Safety, who deemed the hit on Donskoi to be legal, with no disciplinary action taken.

Lindgren, who hands down saw the worst of the fight from Nazem Kadri spoke out today, regarding the fight. His consensus being that he respects Kadri and his actions.

The young defenseman told the media;

"I respect guys who protect their teammates and stand up for their teammates. Obviously, him and their team probably didn't see it as a clean hit, so for him to come at me like that, I personally don't have a problem with that."

"It's happening so fast," Lindgren said. "He's just flying on the wall and I'm trying to cut him off at the blue (line), so yeah, it happens quickly. I guess on my part, I'm just trying to make sure I keep my elbow down and hit him legally."

Though the hit was deemed legal by the league, Colorado Avalanche forward Joonas Donskoi is currently undergoing concussion protocol and there is no current timeline for his return.

Lindgren commented on this as well;

"You never want to hurt a player. I hope the best for him and hopefully he recovers quickly. Obviously, I never want to see that for a player, but I thought I did a good job of trying to keep it clean."

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