from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

OK, so commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL were found to have over-reached in applying Rule 40.2 — intent to injure an official — in order to give Dennis Wideman 20 games for the infamous incident in which he plowed into, and indeed injured, linesman Don Henderson what now seems about five years ago. The commissioner and the league only could infer, and not prove, intent.

The beauty is, the league seems to have been hoisted on its own petard by one of its own.

(Hoisted on its own petard: a major penalty that would not have been called by the Eric Furlatt-Tom Kowal referee tandem that did not call an instigator on Darnell Nurse for his attack on Roman Polak.)

Indeed, in reducing the suspension to 10 games — after the Calgary defenseman already had served 19 games of the sentence through an unacceptable appeals process that harmed his team more than any other entity or individual — neutral arbitrator James Oldham’s opinion cited league exec Stephen Walkom’s testimony given at the hearing.

“My feeling is that [Wideman] knocked [Henderson] to the ice with enough force to hurt him, even though he probably didn’t intentionally mean to hurt him,” the NHL’s senior VP and director of officiating testified.

Wonder if Walkom will receive a standing ovation the next time he attends a Board of Governors meeting … or the next time he walks into NHL headquarters on Sixth Avenue. Hope he doesn’t have to turn in his key to the executive washroom.

more hockey topics...