The Puck Stops Here
Playoff Suspensions
by PuckStopsHere on 04/24/10 at 11:57 AM ET
Comments (8)
Once again the NHL revealed their playoff suspension policy, which appears to be no playoff suspensions, especially not to key players, if they can possibly be avoided. Last night at the conclusion of Buffalo’s 4-1 victory over Boston, a brawl broke out. Forty-five minutes in penalties were handed out to five different players. Zdeno Chara was the instigator of the brawl, when he started to fight with Paul Gaustad. Chara was given a two minute instigator penalty, in addition to a game misconduct and a five minute fighting penalty.
NHL rules state that anyone who gets an instigator penalty in the last five minutes of a game receives an automatic suspension. however, the NHL has a history of reviewing and cancelling these suspensions especially in the playoffs.
The NHL ruled that Chara was responding to a small slash from Gaustad (that occurred at the 1:29 mark) when he instigated the brawl. Apparently that makes it OK and non-suspendable. It means that a brawl instigated at the end of a game, which your team loses, is not meant to send a message for next game (because if it was it is supposed to be a suspendable offence).
This is no big surprise. The NHL suspension policy is consistent on this point. It is hard for a star to get suspended in the playoffs. What might be worthy of suspension in the regular season is not in the playoffs. In the playoffs, the NHL is scared to decide a series with a suspension, so suspendable offences go unpunished. This is yet another problem with the NHL suspension policy.
Filed in: | The Puck Stops Here | Permalink
Tags: Boston+Bruins, Zdeno+Chara,
Comments
The instigator is a flawed rule to begin with, that is why there are so many League exceptions. Get rid of it and let players enforce on ice decorum and player respect. Too many punks hiding behind the rule now and it makes the game more dangerous. It is no coincidence that so many long-time career NHL officials are taking retirements now. Too many judgment rules and rules like this make it impossible for officials to do their jobs well, so they quit.
Posted by Mark from Milford on 04/24/10 at 01:00 PM ET
“(that occurred at the 1:29 mark) “
Of what? Video helps if you’re going to put that in.
Posted by Tyler Arnason on 04/24/10 at 01:19 PM ET
If they had suspended Chara as was deserved we wouldn’t have a problem with the instigator rule. He was trying to send some sort of message which the rule specifies as requiring a suspension.
Posted by Timbits on 04/24/10 at 01:23 PM ET
Of what? Video helps if you’re going to put that in.
With 1:29 left on the clock, the little slash occurred - and no i do not have a video of it.
Posted by PuckStopsHere on 04/24/10 at 01:32 PM ET
The league did not rescind the suspension, they rescinded the instigator penalty (the way I’ve come to understand the situation). Chara was slashed in the leg, which you can clearly see in one of the angles, and then he goes after Gaustad. If anything, Gaustad should have received the instigator penalty. Chara was rightfully showing Gaustad that he wasn’t going to take it. The league was absolutely correct in not suspending Chara.
Posted by Roy from Richmond, Va on 04/24/10 at 01:55 PM ET
The only guys who haven’t had that particular ‘automatic suspension’ rescinded, since that rule change was made, are Carcillo and Boynton, and only because they kept ignoring it and instigating fights in the last five minutes on a game-by-game basis. The purpose of the rule is to prevent something like what happened between Ottawa and Philly all those years ago, which didn’t happen in the Boston game.
Malkin and Walker both had it rescinded last year, for instance.
Posted by steve on 04/24/10 at 03:48 PM ET
1:29 left in the game? Did you watch the game? It happened with 3 seconds left in the game
It was the 1:29 mark of THIS video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYqH9yMd24M
So how did you not have video, yet somehow pick 1:29 out of your head?
Posted by Tyler Arnason on 04/24/10 at 04:10 PM ET
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Once again the NHL revealed their playoff suspension policy, which appears to be no playoff suspensions, especially not to key players, if they can possibly be avoided
What is your Tin-Foil Hat size.
The league is run by about 5 boneheads ( we all know who they are) and you expect consistent judgement to be applied. The NHL Rule-Book should just have a giant asterisk on the cover.
Posted by Down River Dan on 04/24/10 at 12:23 PM ET