They should absolutely let players play during an appeal process. It will give the NHL good reason to speed up the process and remove the potential for a player to miss games for a suspension that was later reduced by an independent arbitrator.
Let's say the decision comes back and the arbitrator decides Wideman only deserved a 10 game suspension (hypothetical situation for argument's sake). Wideman will have missed 18 games. He can't travel back in time and play those 8 games he should have been in. However, he will get the salary for those 8 games. So, essentially, ownership will have paid money to a player who didn't step foot on the ice because of a slow appeal process. I understand they would have paid this money into the player assistance fund anyway if the suspension was upheld; but to have to pay that money out to a player who should have been on the ice (theoretically) helping your team probably won't sit well with any organization.
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