[dino7c]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

That's what I thought too. I am pretty sure I have seen them add misconducts at the end of the game based on footage, for the purpose of triggering automatic hearings and the such.

To me, it almost seems like the officials of the game were willing to give Wideman a pass, but then other officials (and their union) probably piped up.

At this point, I think it is all NHL politics. The incident itself is secondary to relationships of the NHL, officials and to a lesser degree, the players.

Also to anyone holding out hope that he isn't suspended, the NHL has already decided to suspend him by suspending him "indefinitely, pending a hearing". If there was any chance that he wasn't going to be suspended, they just would have set a hearing without making the statement that he was suspended in the meantime. Not that I necessarily agree with a suspension, but it's done. The only question is for how long.

Even though I think it was accidental, it looked bad and the NHL won't want to give an inch on this. It wouldn't take much for a less reputable player to push the issue by hitting officials, but trying to mask it as an accident, therefore they won't give Wideman the benefit of the doubt.

I am guessing he gets 12 games, then the NHLPA appeals, and they settle on ~7 games.

They 100% can review video and give a misconduct AFTER the game in these situations...so the "they didn't see it" thing is non-sense

If I were defending Wideman I would be bringing that up right away