Buffalo Sabres' coach Ted Nolan announced on Monday that defenseman Chad Ruhwedel was done for the rest of the season after suffering a concussion, courtesy of an elbow to the jaw from Philadelphia Flyers' centerman Zac Rinaldo - so the league decided that the punishment should fit the crime.
Rinaldo's obvious targeting of the defenseless Ruhwedel's head earned him the same playing status as Buffalo's rookie blue liner, as the league handed down a four-game suspension, which means that Rinaldo is also done for the regular season.
"Rinaldo takes a poor angle of approach and does not make full body contact. Instead, he launches into Ruhwedel with force, picking his head and making it the main point of contact." - Statement from NHL Department of Player Safety
Rinaldo's suspension is without pay, meaning that the $15,384.60 that he would have earned in the four games now goes directly the the league's player emergency fund.
While the suspension is far from a landmark decision by the department, it is appropriate in terms of justice and in setting of precedence, wherein the suspension equals the amount of time lost by Ruhwedel - a policy for which is long overdue for a league that considers itself serious about the safety of it's players.
Of course, there has to be limits and the league should adopt a structure in which there are clear sentencing guidelines where intent is obvious, so as to both help the players remain safe on the ice as well as prevent any manipulation by the victim and his team to cause unjust punishment......which is perhaps a pipe dream due to a litany of factors contained in the latest CBA, so league discipline czar Brenden Shanahan's hands are tied somewhat, and it may never be a perfect system, but in this one particular case, the punishment does indeed fit the crime.
The Flyers can clinch a playoff berth on Tuesday night with a win over the Florida Panthers, but they hardly have the sixth seed locked up in the Eastern Conference playoffs, with Detroit and Columbus right on their tail - and their schedule is doing them no favors, with trips to Tampa and Pittsburgh on the docket later this week...
...and if the Flyers drop to the seventh or even eighth seed, they would have to face either Pittsburgh or Boston in the first round, which almost surely would mean a quick exit from the post-season.
But while Rinaldo isn't a deal breaker for Philadelphia making the playoffs, his absence could make the difference in whom they play, and maybe that would be enough of a punishment to make him think twice next time he sees an opening to cheap shot someone...
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