NHL Suspendeds Wisniewski for making an obscene gesture.

s/t Puck Daddy. Holy Cow what is this world coming to? Now the NHL is suspending hockey players for making obscene gestures to their fellow competitors on the ice, in the heat of battle. My first response is; you have got to be kidding me? We have guys being pounded head long into the boards causing them to suffer a concussion and miss major amounts of games and the NHL has determined that obscene gestures are as serious as head shots and boarding incidents. The NHL has it’s priorities screwed up.

TSN --- The National Hockey League has suspended New York Islanders defenceman James Wisniewski two games for making an obscene gesture to New York Rangers forward Sean Avery in the first period of their Monday night game, reports TSN.ca.

The gesture was made during a shoving match between the two on Monday night. After the game, the 26-year-old claimed that he didn’t recall making the gesture.

Avery, meanwhile, said “can you imagine if I did that? They sent me to rehab the last time I did something. It’s crazy.”

NHL Governors approve major penalty for hits to head

This type of hits will no longer be legal in the NHL anymore. This is the right decision by the NHL, people will argue that it will take hitting out of the game but that is incorrect. You can hit effectively hit someone without having to hit someone in the head.

LOS ANGELES – A passionate debate about hits to the head that has lasted the better part of a year was officially settled Thursday night when the NHL Board of Governors approved a new penalty for next season.

The penalty for a lateral, blindside hit to the head, which will be called "illegal check to the head," is a five-minute major penalty, as well as an automatic game misconduct. The League also will consider supplemental discipline.

t was unanimously approved by the Board of Governors during Thursday's meeting, the first for the body since last December. The rule was proposed during the spring edition of the General Managers' Meeting in Florida after several controversial hits during the season.

"I think we are really pleased with where it is," Columbus GM Scott Howson told NHL.com. "But I also think it is something really fluid and we will have to continue to work at it if we see the need."

Cam Neely, the freshly minted president of the Boston Bruins, also stressed that vigilance would remain necessary, but was happy to see a mechanism in place to protect the League's players.

"I think it was important for the League to try to address this as quick as possible," Neely told NHL.com. "The GMs got on board, the Competition Committee got on board. Obviously, for the health of the players, it is good to get a rule like this in place and try to get it out of the game and get to a situation where you are going to have fewer concussions because of it."