Matt Cooke faces suspension for kneeing Tyson Barrie

Minnesota Wild forward Matt Cooke's knee-on-knee hit will cost the Colorado Avalanche the services of key defenseman Tyson Barrie for several rounds of the playoffs.

Now, the league is looking at suspending Cooke for the rest of the first round and beyond.

The NHL's department of player safety says that Cooke will have a hearing in New York on Wednesday afternoon. A player is offered an in-person hearing if he faces the possibility of being suspended for six games or more.

Barrie grabbed his knee after spilling to the ice and was unable to put any pressure on his left leg as he went straight to the dressing room on Monday. Avalanche coach Patrick Roy told reporters after the game that Barrie has a sprained medial collateral ligament and will miss four to six weeks.

Cooke received a two-minute penalty for kneeing on the play. The in-person hearing doesn't necessarily mean six games or more. Cody McLeod and Maxim Lapierre each got five games after personal meetings, but it's clear that Cooke will sit for a while.

Cooke has been in trouble with the league before, but not during the past three years because he had worked to change the way he approaches hits.

Though he still plays a rugged game, he hadn't been suspended since he got 10 regular-season games and the first round of the playoffs for elbowing New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh in 2011.

However, Raffi Torres also had changed his ways after being suspended for 21 games by the league during the 2012 playoffs, but the league suspended him for the remainder of the second round in the 2013 playoffs for a head shot. The San Jose Sharks were eliminated in Game 7, making the suspension a six-game one.

Cooke had his knee extended as he approached Barrie. The previous kneeing suspensions handed out by the department of player safety, then under Brendan Shanahan, were two games to Taylor Hall and four to Kevin Porter. David Booth suffered a serious injury on the Porter hit.

Stephane Quintal, who replaced Shanahan after he joined the Toronto Maple Leafs' front office this month, is handling suspensions for the remainder of this season.

The Avalanche, who lost 1-0 in overtime on Monday and lead the series 2-1, will be hurting without Barrie. He had a breakout season with 13 goals and had two assists and averaged 23:49 in Colorado's first two playoff wins.