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| NHL Commisioner Gary Bettman in 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
NEW YORK (AP) - NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman calls teams' complaints about player suspensions during the postseason "gamesmanship."The reason the team’s management, the players and fans of various NHL teams are upset is that they see the current state of affairs in the NHL to be disgusting. I don't mind the rough stuff and the after the whistle stuff because it adds to the drama and the rancor, however, when a a player drive another players head into the glass and only get a $2,500.00 fine, you have to think that something is wrong here. Then other players get a random one game or a three game suspension, it's like the Wheel of Justice is back in the NHL.
Bettman said Friday that criticism of the league's disciplinary decisions as inconsistent simply reflected clubs disliking rulings that hurt them. He used the one-game suspension of Washington center Nicklas Backstrom for an illegal cross-check as an example. Bettman says of the Capitals' disagreement: "That doesn't mean anything; they didn't like it."Bettman says he has confidence in league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan. The commissioner spoke at an Associated Press Sports Editors meeting shortly before Shanahan was to hold a hearing with Phoenix forward Raffi Torres. Torres is suspended indefinitely for launching himself into Chicago's Marian Hossa on Tuesday.
Nine players were issued suspensions through the first eight days of the playoffs.
Then we have star players getting off without even getting a fine for acts that would get other players a two to three game suspension.
