The appeal has been successful for Jason Spezza of the Toronto Maple Leafs, as his six-game suspension has been reduced to four. This was a decision made by commissioner Gary Bettman; had he maintained the full suspension, Spezza could have then appealed to a neutral arbitrator. With the reduction, Spezza is now eligible to play against Vancouver tomorrow night.
In the full nine-page ruling, Bettman include that though it was a clearly suspendable play, Spezza has an:
…admirable record of clean play over a nineteen season, 1,300 game career…this record support’s Mr. Spezza’s reputation for clean play and that he has never received a warning or counseling from [the Department of Player Safety] about conduct coming close to the line; and leads me to give Mr. Spezza the benefit of the doubt in terms of his intention.
The suspension has been upheld, meaning that it will go on Spezza’s record moving forward and be considered in any other supplementary discipline. Neal Pionk, the player involved, did suffer an injury on the play but missed just three games. Spezza can re-enter the Maple Leafs’ lineup immediately.
Maybe there’s hope for this Bettman guy after all. Nah! As shocking as the Paul Maurice news is today, this is a close second.
Hope for what exactly? If the desired outcome is NOT running NHL into the ground then the guy’s doing a good job evidently
@Danny DeKeyser – That “hope” part was meant to be a joke. He is doing his damnedest to run the NHL into the ground, like you said, but in this brief instance, the blind squirrel found his acorn. This could end up being his so-called shining moment this season. He should still get the crap booed out of him when he forks over The Cup to the winners, though.
Gary Bettman: 28 years of running the NHL into the ground (by growing it) and counting. As long as it’s about the money (money is usually a good indicator of consumer satisfaction) i’m fine. Kudos to him for keeping the political woke crap to the minimum (unlike in NBA/NFL) in the NHL. I’d be very delicate with what i wish for the nhl Commissioner.
So.. what changed the NHL’s mind? Did Bettman not realize Spezza had a clean “nineteen season, 1,300 game career” at the time of the initial 6 game ban? Did Gary sleep in that day and miss the news?
Cito Bettman didn’t decide the original suspension length
Please let me live in peace with my irrational Bettman hate. :p
This league is so messed up. It is like a bureaucracy that consumes hallucinogens as the basis for decisions.
I say this as the refs make no sense, the discipline makes no sense, and now lowering a disciplinary measure makes no sense…. to me at least. Just make a series of rules and stick with it!!! Not rocket science.