They showed the Hlacar hit from 3 different angles. It did look like Hlacar was going in with a legal check. He looked away at the play as he went in. The player that was hit buckled on contact lowering his head. Hlacar's elbow made contact. Hlacar wasn't even looking at that point. A penalty perhaps but suspension.....I think not.
My take is that while he probably had every intention of executing a clean hit, it was a direct hit straight to the head. The player didn't change position last instant or do anything outside of a regular play that you see in every battle in a corner, things some would say to rationalize a direct hit to the head.
I wasn't at the game, only have watched the footage linked above, to me I suspect Hlacar committed to the hit having anticipated where he thought the NB player would be, and was wrong and hit early. That's the risk when throwing yourself at a hit like a torpedo.
It's his second major in 3-4 games being too reckless. Sure he's big, it's not like we haven't seen big players before (Boris got a raw deal in his day!), its okay to be big, just don't be reckless or you'll draw even more penalties than just the "big guy" penalties.
I don't want to go as far as to say I don't 'Trust' him, but heading into the playoffs, anticipating he'll get at least a few game suspension, I wouldn't rush to insert him into the lineup right away when he becomes available. At least not as a regular 4th line shift.
As for a suspension, I expect at least 2-3, which in my opinion would be light, but for all we know it could be around 5 or even more.