Quote:
Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger
There is a strange disconnect though. The NHL has to be treating it as intentional, and I believe Bettman's statement yesterday confirms that, because otherwise this whole "officials are off limits" thing would mean nothing. I say that because accidental contact is clearly ok with the NHL. The league has never suspended players for accidental plays, even punches. To the face!
I'm actually a bit surprised at how many media personalities keep on getting this so, so wrong (looking at you Duha). They go on and on and on about how officials are off limits and this has no place in the game and on the other hand totally ignore the fact that if a player ever did clearly and intentionally skate over to a ref and crosscheck him in the back they would get far more than 20 games. Look at previous suspensions. Guys have gotten 10 games just for the slightest shove.
If the league actually believes it was intentional, which I think is crazy, then they totally screwed this up because he should have received half a season. The idea that the league is saying that you can attack a referee and only get 20 games is mind blowing.
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Did you read his statement? Bettman addressed that specific topic (previous player/official physical contact).
He notes that it's "unquestionably true" that "accidents sometimes occur on the ice, and that the collisions between players and officials in those other incidents did not result in supplementary discipline."
He goes on to say "Each of the incidents referred to by the NHLPA involved collisions that occurred in the midst of play - presumably in the full view of the on-ice officials, who did not call a penalty. Here, by contrast, no penalty was called because the incident occurred away from the play and none of the on-ice officials witnessed it. The incident here did not involve anything that remotely resembled a 'hockey play'"