A Biggee

First 15 games for Mark Bell.

Now 20 games for Steve Downie.

Could it be, after all these years and all those one- two- and three-game suspensions that did nothing to deter anybody from doing anything, that the NHL has decided to get serious?

Now, let's be clear; the Bell and Downie suspensions are very, very different, and not really to be compared. Bell's was for an off-ice incident in which he'll go to jail for six months, and that was certainly a new direction in which the league chose to extend its disciplinary muscle.

Downie, meanwhile, today received one of the longest suspensions in NHL history for a hit that wasn't one of the worst in league history or one of the most destructive.

What they have in common, however, is that both bans were designed to set a precedent.

Look at the Downie suspension.

Remember, Claude Lemieux only got two games one year for caving in Kris Draper's face during the playoffs. Chris Pronger got one game for knocking out Dean McAmmond, the same victim of Downie's Tuesday night hit, during the 2007 Stanley Cup final.

New Jersey forward Cam Janssen, meanwhile, received only three games for knocking out Maple Leaf defenceman Tomas Kaberle with a late, high hit in a regular season game last year, an incident that in some ways was similar to the Downie hit.

Now Downie gets 20? Something's going on.

What this suspension apparently means is that in choosing over the summer not to institute a league-wide ban on hits to the head, the NHL is telling players that those who still insist on flagrantly delivering such hits of a dangerous type are going to be punished to a far greater extent than would have been the case in the past.

In other words, the league is trusting the players to behave in this area without putting in another new rule. If they don't, expect huge suspensions, like this one.

Of course, consistency has long been the NHL's problem. And the league still insists there was nothing wrong with Chris Neil's vicious, blind side head shot on Chris Drury last season.

But after getting nowhere with piddly little suspensions for years, perhaps this is indeed a change of NHL policy. Certainly, the nonsensical, archaic notion that the players can police themselves has gone forever.

Comments

[jimmy]

i think downie should have been gone for the year. But, if chris simon only gets 25 games for what has to be the worst thing ive ever seen, then i guess they cant give downey more than that.......still, brutal hit.

[Gord Thompson]

How about banning the weapons players are using for elbow and shoulder pads? For once, I agree with Don Cherry. Maybe then someone's helmet will break a perpetrator's elbow!!

[Steve]

Players all talk a big show and say there is no place for this type of hit but when will the NHLPA do something. Is not a Union in place to protect the majority, the greater good. I'm no talking about the fighters policing themselves I'm talking about the Union protecting it's players protecting their livelihood, what does this say to a player who could miss a year or more with concussion problems, peoples careers have ended due to concussions....wake up NHLPA

[Rich]

Long suspensions to punish the result of on-ice incidents seem like the better option opposed to a rule which bans head hits entirely. While eliminating head shots might decrease contact and is almost incoherent in a league with bare-knuckle boxing, the result of an incident is a quantifiable way to guage the neccesary punishment, and the same should go for injuries sustained during a fight. Ultimately, the League and PA could decide to maintain the spectacular nature of body contact and fisticuffs but also establish that these elements are mainly a chance to entertain the fan, not neccesarily to injure one another. Also, why does Don Cherry's oft-stated objection to the construction of modern elbow pads seem to fall on deaf ears?

[Stephen]

Damien, there is absolutely nothing illegal about a blindside hit, nor should there be. Whether or not someone is paying attention has nothing to do with the legality of a hit. Did he leave his feet? Did he get his elbow up? Was it a late hit? From behind? All excellent questions that should be taken very seriously by the league and punished severely. But if the recipient of a hit gets nailed because he wasn't aware of what was happening on the ice it's entirely his own fault so long as no infraction was committed upon him. Yes the league needs to punish misconduct more severely, but they need to do so by enforcing the already excellent rules in place.

[David]

Downie is the goon who as a member of the Windsor Spitfires slammed his stick into the face of his own teammate Akim Aliu, knocking out his teeth. He seems to have a pathological viciousness that knows no bounds. This is hardly going to be his last hit to the head.

[Martin]

This MAY signify a change in how the NHL handles this sort of thing. Or it can be looked at as a bit predictable. An easy chance for the NHL to pound their chests on a young guy who as i hear is not going to make the NHL club anyway. Let's see them hand this out a punishment like this on a non-goon/established. I imagine we won't have to wait too long for their chance to come.

[FlamFlim]

Downie's suspension may indeed signal a change in the NHL's uncertain and unpredictable brand of justice but I wouldn't place money on it.

Downie (in current NHL terms) is expendable as a player though he's a PR godsend for the Flyers especially after last season and given the historic culture of that team.

However, if a guy like Chris Pronger tries to kill Dean MacAmmond during a playoff game by knocking his block off, it's only worthy of a one or two game suspension. Did anyone really expect the NHL to sit Pronger for the duration of the Ducks-Sens playoff tilt last spring as they should have after his despicable shot to McAmmond's cranium?

I think the NHL's Colin Campbell knows the score. But the politics of pro hockey and the lapdog nature of the league south of the border both conspire to prevent him from applying said justice with any consistency league-wide or season-long.

Moreover, the NHLPA is in such a shambles that it fails to represent it's own membership for the greater good by not demanding the NHL institutes long suspensions for head shots and other atrocities a la Todd Bertuzzi.

Until one of the players -- and it would have to be a name player that resonates with the fans -- dies as a result of a head injury you will never see a meaningful change.

Ultimately, if one millionaire wants to kill another millionaire during a hockey game and the multi-millionaires and lawyers that run and own the league are okay with it, so am I. I'm just glad the player on the wrong end of one of those hits isn't my son or brother.

[Bus Gadali]

If Philly decides to put Downie on the roster at the start of the season and ride out the 20 games, and then ends up sending him to the minors immediately, or a few games, afterward, that will count as him "playing" over the maximum number of games to count as a year of NHL service, will it not? And if they send him to the minors now rather than have him on the Flyer roster, does that mean he can start playing right away? He could turn out to be a career minor-leaguer and never have to serve the NHL suspension.
By the way, if there is Coach's Corner today on the London broadcast, Grapes will point out that the reason McAmmond was probably knocked out was because after the contact with Downie's arm/elbow/shoulder, the back of his head slammed into the boards. I wonder had the hit occurred further out from the boards, if McAmmond wouldn't have simply been able to get up and skate away? Grapes will also add that he is not condoning what Downie did, just showing why it looked as bad for McAmmond afterward as it did.

[Sandy T.]

I'm with those who believe Downie got a big suspension because he's Downie. Or Mark Bell because he's Mark Bell. I'm waiting to see what the NHL's reaction will be when an established player who is an important part of his team's make-up commits a similar offence. History tells me not to hold my breath waiting for that player to be sent to sidelines for any significant period.

[greg panke]

What will be interesting is what will the league does the next time Pronger trys to take someone's head off? How many games will he get? That will be a truer test of the "new" standard.

[roman witiw]

Downies hit on McAmmond was by no way near as late as Scott Stevens hit on Karyia and as far as leaving his feet big deal if you check your physics you will find there is force lost in leaving your feet which is why Stevens hits were so vicious he stayed on his feet,as far as the head shot theory in a league where you will only get 5 minute penalty for knocking someone out in a fight with your knuckles something does not make sense so if i get this right if Downie had skated by McAmmond bumped him challenged hit to a fight and knocked him out that is 5 for fighting and he gets to play in the home openner,something is not right here,oh by the way if McAmmond keeps his head up which we are taught in novice there is no story.

[JeffinCAN]

When this guy gets back to the NHL he will be a basket case and rightly so. I bet he doesn't even survive his time in the minors. He has yet to display any type of maturity or show that he has learnt something. There will be plenty of players in the AHL who will get under his skin.
Mark my word....
This guy plays less games in the NHL than what he got for a suspension.