The NHL had it’s share of drama this week didn’t it?
Two seperate actions resulted in two players getting 2 game suspensions handed to them by the fan favorite NHL league office. Of course I speak of Niklas Hjalmarsson, who smoked Jason Pominville from behind, knocking the young man coo-koo, and James Wisniewski who’s interesting actions towards Sean Avery caught the attention of not only the NHL, but the news world all together.
Of course what has people talking is the fact that both players, Hjalmarsson and Wisniewski, both received 2 game suspensions for their actions and many believe that’s a big problem. On the surface you can see why people would wonder just what the hell the league was thinking. Hjalmarsson’s hit on Pominville was dangerous and unnecessary. The hit resulted in a player receiving a concussion and who knows when Pominville will be feeling well enough to once again lace up the skates and play his next game. In the other corner we have Wisniewski making motions with his hands and head that most would consider inappropriate in a public setting, but as we all know nobody got hurt. So, of course, some fans are down right shell shocked, in some cases plain angry, as to how both players get 2 games for their actions. With the obvious response being that Hjalmarsson should have been punished way worse for his hit then Wisniewski for his gesture. Surprise, surprise, I don’t agree. You can’t compare these two offenses, they are apples and oranges, and for anyone to try and compare them to understand the 2 game suspension for each player, it will never work.
The best way to attempt an explanation of my train of thought is to look at what can put a a person behind bars in our lives. If you go assault a person, intentionally, you can get thrown in the slammer for 5 years. In the United States, where they take white collar crime seriously compared to good old liberal Canada, you can go to jail for 5 years for fraud. In both cases the result is the same, but the actions that landed the people in trouble are obviously totally different. Back to the hockey conversation, the two actions are night and day, and can only be compared to other instances like them, not each other. When the NHL considered how to punish Hjalmarsson for his hit, they looked at past instances of similar hits, not Wisniewski’s antics towards Mr. Avery. Hjalmarsson got his suspension for a bad hit and deserved every minute of it. Wisniewski got his suspension for actions detrimental to the league and in my opinion they got that right as well, the NHL made headlines from Wisniewski’s actions for all the wrong reasons. It’s a privialge to play in the National Hockey League, is it to much to ask for players to act like professionals? I think not.
Two very different actions, apple/orange, with the same result, but the league followed through with the response they have always handed down for simular situations in the past. That’s the key. If you compare apples to apples, the NHL got it right.
Then again, this is just another damned opinion.
