[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Jeepers, you'd think I hadn't said it twelve times in this thread. The rule on player-official contact requires more than carelessness. It requires intent. Player-player contact is a useless comparison because (a) they usually intend the hit - just not the consequence and (b) there are several rules which penalize carelessness for that contact.

If you think there's a carelessness rule for "abuse of official"- please show it.

According to the excellent article posted by Puppet Guy above:

Originally Posted by Paul Stewart

"since no physical- abuse-of-an-official penalty was assessed on the play, this incident does not fall under the jurisdiction of Rule 40.3 (which would carry an automatic 10-game suspension). It also does not fall to the Department of Player Safety, which I noted but did not explain. Put simply, because it was not a player-to-player incident, it is not a matter of player safety.

Instead, it will be reviewed under Rule 28 (Supplementary Discipline) which provides the NHL the authority to “investigate any incident that occurs with any Pre-season, Exhibition, League or Playoff game and may assess fines and/or suspensions for any offense committed during the course of a game or any aftermath thereof by a player…”.

Note: While the League can and might use Rule 40 suspension regulations as a guideline for its ruling, it is under no obligation to do so. The NHL can impose any suspension length -- or no suspension -- as it so chooses based upon the evidence."