June 2: Greg Wyshynski of ESPN reports that Kadri’s hearing with the neutral arbitrator is set for Friday.
May 31: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has upheld the eight-game suspension that the Department of Player Safety assessed to Colorado Avalanche forward Nazem Kadri. Kadri had appealed the decision looking for a reduction, but Bettman concluded that the discipline handed out was warranted.
In the decision, Bettman notes that the NHLPA attempted to compare Kadri’s disciplinary history to that of Tom Wilson, Radko Gudas, Brad Marchand, and Zac Rinaldo, arguing that recent decisions regarding those players “illustrate the concept that if a Player plays clean for a given amount of time,” he should not be considered a player who repeatedly violates the league rules. The commissioner did not agree with this assertion, even directly examining the records of each player and comparing them to Kadri. While the NHLPA asserted that a four-game suspension would have been the correct discipline, Bettman disagreed.
The Avalanche forward can now appeal to a neutral arbitrator, though that process only examines the methodology used by the league to determine the length of the suspension and does not make a ruling on the actual incident itself. Adrian Dater of Colorado Hockey now reports that Kadri will indeed pursue this route as Wilson did in 2018. In that case, the 20-game suspension that Wilson received was reduced to 14 by the neutral arbitrator Shyam Das, the same one that Kadri will have hear his case.
Kadri has already served three games of the suspension, all Colorado wins.
Let this be a lesson, kids. Don’t try to use the excuse of “If you didn’t suspend Tom Wilson, you can’t suspend me, either.” Can’t wait to see what will happen to “Reavers” after last night’s “incident.” More bad optics for the NHL, coming to the All Drama Channel near you.
Let this be a lesson, Tom Wilson could make a fortune teaching other players how to “get away with it”.
The undisputed greatest player to ever play in the NHL once called the league a “Mickey mouse league”. I guess he was right after all.
Actually he called the Devils a Mickey Mouse organization. In no way did he reference the league as a whole.
“Bold prediction” — Naz will become un-suspended sometime next February, with the trite reprimand “Who do you think you are? Tom Wilson?”
Who do you think you are I am
Kadri = scumbag
⁸Lol what a dumb statement, since the nhl has started recording suspendable infractions, the st.louis blues have 9 incidents in total. The Colorado avalanche now have 10, so before this incident we were actually on par. So die hard blue balls fan boy, I guess your team in just a dirty as mine. Also if we add in incidents that received fines your team has 1 up on the avalanche. I’ll leave the link below to reference. Just because you lost in the first round to us and someone got hurt does not make us a dirty organization, by the numbers if we are, you are. Do some research before being a grumpy armchair GM. link to spotrac.com