NHL Fails In Suspending John Scott Two Games

San Jose Sharks enforcer John Scott was suspended two games today by the NHL Department of Player Safety for his role in coming off the bench, on a legal line change, and sparking a line brawl with Anaheim Ducks forward Tim Jackman. Video of the incident as well as opinion regarding it could be found on our site earlier here.

Below for the official viewpoint you can see the video put out by the league explaining the altercation and supplemental discipline below:

I understand Rule 70.2 as explained above. What I don’t understand is how this incident is different in any way from a fight taking place directly off of a face off. In that instance there is a whistle, followed by a legal line change, and upon puck drop a fight ensues. Does the pause in play make that any less offensive? And how many times in a season does that happen? Here the fight took place during the normal pace of play. It certainly seemed Scott had a prior issue with Jackman. Was there an incident earlier in the game between the two players that prompted this reply from Scott?

I think there are a few factors that played into this being a suspension. The first is the offending party. John Scott is not a choir boy by any stretch. But when compared to the man judging him now, Chris Pronger, I think Scott by comparison is the lesser of the two evils. Pronger running the Department of Player Safety is akin to the inmates running the asylum.

Secondly, the line brawl is not a good look for the NHL. It’s not the kind of highlight you want showing on various sports networks when you’re trying to get fighting out of the game. Lastly is the NHL’s image, or lack thereof, when it comes to suspensions. It’s a whole lot easier to hammer a guy like Scott for a transgression than it is for them to suspend a guy like Phil Kessel for going full Tiger Woods, ironically on Scott.

Remember this?

So lets get this straight: a player coming off the ice to challenge another player to his face gets a pair of games because he has history, but a player that swings his stick like a driver, chases a player and does it again when he isn’t looking gets three games because he doesn’t have history?

History doesn’t have anything to do with it. The league will take their enforcers behind the woodshed with additional discipline because that is a role they are trying to reduce if not eliminate from the game. Kessel is a marketable star in a major market and the league is terrified of the backlash of actually having to suspend one of its best players. If you wanted to suspend someone from this incident, why wouldn’t you suspend Frederik Andersen? Oh that’s right. You can’t because leaving the crease to join an altercation is only a minor penalty according to NHL Rule 27.6 as stated below from NHL.com:

27.6 Leaving Goal Crease – A minor penalty shall be imposed on a goalkeeper who leaves the immediate vicinity of his crease during an altercation. In addition, he shall be subject to a fine of two hundred dollars ($200) and this incident shall be reported to the Commissioner for such further disciplinary action as may be required. However, should the altercation occur in or near the goalkeeper’s crease, the Referee should direct the goalkeeper to a neutral location and not assess a penalty for leaving the immediate vicinity of the goal crease. Equally, if the goalkeeper is legitimately outside the immediate vicinity of the goal crease for the purpose of proceeding to the players’ bench to be substituted for an extra attacker, and he subsequently becomes involved in an altercation, the minor penalty for leaving the crease would not be assessed.

So a goalie leaves the crease for a fight and gets a $200 fine and a two minute penalty but John Scott does it and gets two games? Congratulations, John! You can now add “fall guy” to your NHL resume.