[News] Bettman upholds 20 game Wideman suspension. NHLPA files appeal to neutral arbitrator

[dissentowner]

Bettman saw the same thing I did, a guy constantly changing his story to avoid punishment for something stupid he did. I think Bettman got it right and I am glad he upheld the suspension length.

[starseed]

Originally Posted by Red Menace

I'd be interested to see the Flames penalty stats before and after this incident.
My impression is that we were one of the least penalized teams in league before, and suddenly we are one of the most....is this accurate?

I don't really think that the refs are punishing the Flames.

Through 55 games, the Flames are the 4th least penalized team with an average of ~7.7 PIMs a game. However, they have had an average of ~11.1 PIMS a game since Wideman was suspended for a 45% increase in penalty minutes. That would move them from 4th, to 23rd least penalized team.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Regardless what happens with the suspension I find the fact the NHL can subpoena a players phone in a situation like this just downright bizarre.

Love to get the history of when this was allowed/started. Unreal.

[KelVarnsen]

Boring Sean Monahan ‏@boringmonahan
I spoke to Dennis Wideman today.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Bettman saw the same thing I did, a guy constantly changing his story to avoid punishment for something stupid he did. I think Bettman got it right and I am glad he upheld the suspension length.

I'm disappointed Bettman didn't increase it.

It's on record that Wideman may not have been honest about this. He's saying that he saw the linesman last second and couldn't avoid the collision but when he was talking to the experts he was saying he wasn't registering and couldn't remember the incident. Something doesn't add up there. No sympathy from me. Especially disappointed that he isn't taking responsibility for this, nope it was social medias fault!

[sureLoss]

nm

[MissTeeks]

N/m

[flambers]

Not surprised by the ruling, I wonder if the NHLPA will appeal.

If they do, i believe this will be the first time it has occurred.

[Hockeyguy15]

Why are some people still saying this looks bad on the organisation, and the Flames will feel the rath of the officials going forward?

The Flames have nothing to do with the appeal process, it's all Wideman and the NHLPA.

[MissTeeks]

Things that make you go Hmmm:

Mama Scott – ‏@stace_ofbase

So the NHL does a subpoena for Wideman's phone over an incident with the ref but doesn't do so for players with SA/rape/DV allegations. K!

[dissentowner]

So question. Lets say they take it to an arbitrator. I know the idea is for Wideman to get his sentence reduced but can it backfire and the arbitrator actually add to his suspension?

[Galakanokis]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Oh FFS. Listen to yourself! You realize all parties involved would have access to these records, and that if context changed anything Bettman wouldn't have highlighted it?

CP needs to let this go in the worst way.

You know HotHotHeat, I don't care what they say, I think you're all right.

Read it again. I said there could be. There are no other texts in the bloody Bettman release just the one he picked to use. Doesn't matter if others had access, I'm sure they did, that part had no impact on what Bettman used. Maybe we see a release from Wideman that shows more context as I highly doubt he sent that lone text on the subject.

I have moved on, I prefer Wideman out of the lineup doesn't mean we can't discuss what is obviously a very contentious issue. Perhaps it is you that should move along.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by heep223

The Flames cannot catch a break.

This arguably is a break...

[sureLoss]

Reading the cross-examinations, (and yes realizing they were cherry picked excerpts from transcript), the NHL/Bettman did a pretty good job of destroying any credibility the concussion experts had to do with Wideman.

[TheScorpion]

This is the most bizarre situation I've ever seen. I'm disappointed with both sides.

Dennis obviously made the hit, which I didn't like, and got suspended 20, which I didn't expect but was fine with. I thought his first apologies seemed insincere and hollow, and now he's lying and changing his story.

Gary waited forever to suspend Dennis. He waited forever to respond to the appeal. He subpoenaed Wideman's texts(!).

This is just flat out weird. Flames really can't catch a break.

[mrkajz44]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

When he was talking to his experts after the fact, to get the concussion diagnosis, this was what he said:

That's an extremely different narrative than he accidentally ran into someone after looking up. I mean, either he lied to his doctor to get a favourable diagnosis, which is shady as ####. Or he lied about remembering the event to give himself a favourable narrative. Either way, he deserves the 20 game ban as far as I'm concerned... at least.

I don't think him saying: "I was out of it and don't really know what happened there" is mutually exclusive from the stance of "it was an accident". To me, those two ideas are in line with each other and make sense. The narrative reads "I was a bit out of it, and I think I ran into someone by accident on my way to the bench".

I guess I'm just heavily influenced by the fact that I was at the game, and saw it happen live. Many people were sort of looking around saying "what happened?" and then the game went on as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. The first time I heard that the hit might have been an issue was when I was reading twitter the next morning at breakfast. As such, I'm totally on Wideman's side that it was simply an accident and this was blown way out of proportion by the media.

[stemit14]

Am I the only one that thinks this text is being taken totally out of context? People seem to be assuming he means those direct refs in that game rather than the ref's union as a whole... who were most likely advocating he be given the maximum possible suspension.

So him saying that the media and Ref's Union are the reason he is in this position is totally reasonable to say. It doesn't mean he wasn't remorseful for what happened to that linesman... It just means he's frustrated that the Ref's Union is pushing for such a huge punishment.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen

I'm disappointed Bettman didn't increase it.

It's on record that Wideman may not have been honest about this. He's saying that he saw the linesman last second and couldn't avoid the collision but when he was talking to the experts he was saying he wasn't registering and couldn't remember the incident. Something doesn't add up there. No sympathy from me. Especially disappointed that he isn't taking responsibility for this, nope it was social medias fault!

You can choose not to believe Wideman, but not seeing the ref until the last second and "not registering" after the hit is entirely consistent.

[sureLoss]

Burke on Tim and Sid:

https://www.facebook.com/timandsid/v...6987716718409/

[MissTeeks]

Peter Chiarelli – ‏@FakeOilersGM

This is why NHL GMs have switched to SnapChat as our IM platform of choice for brokering trades, sexting, and oh no I've said way too much