Dennis Wideman Suspension Reduced Upon Appreal

Dennis Wideman Suspension Reduced to 10 Games

NHL/NHLPA Neutral Discipline Arbitrator James Oldham made a decision Friday on the appeal of the Dennis Wideman Suspension. Oldham has decided to reduce the league’s hefty suspension from 20 games to 10.

Having already missed that time (19 to be exact), Wideman is set to be immediately reinstated and will be able to re-join the Calgary Flames in action.

Calgary is scheduled to play Arizona at home on Friday night.

The NHL released the following statement following the decision.

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via Sportsnet,

“We are in receipt of Arbitrator James Oldham’s Opinion in the appeal of Dennis Wideman’s supplementary discipline suspension and reducing the suspension from 20 to 10 games. We strenuously disagree with the Arbitrator’s ruling and are reviewing the Opinion in detail to determine what next steps may be appropriate. We will have no further comment until we have completed our review. In light of and in response to Arbitrator Oldham’s Opinion, Mr. Wideman will be reinstated and will be eligible to participate in his team’s games, effective immediately.”

The NHLPA also released a statement following Friday’s decision.

via Sportsnet,

“Given that it was undisputed that Dennis suffered a concussion mere seconds prior to his collision with linesman Don Henderson, we felt strongly that there should have been no discipline. Nonetheless we are pleased that Arbitrator Oldham found that the collision was not intentional and that the suspension was reduced to 10 games. We respect the process and the decision and we look forward to Dennis returning to the ice tonight with his teammates.”

Technically speaking, the NHL got what they wanted here. The only thing Dennis Wideman gains is a bit of money back in his pocket, because by the time he plays next week, it would have exceeded 20 games.

For a moment, put aside your opinion on the actual hit itself, whether you agreed or disagreed with the original ruling. Lets strictly observe the process that took place:

1) A rare disciplinary rule that is overseen by the NHL, opposed to the Department of Player Safety, who handles 99 percent of suspensions.
2) The NHL has a lot of questionable language in their video explanation. Part of which included admission that Wideman incurred a concussion on the play. Yet, the only thing they would focus on was his negligence to let the trainer look him over (well after the incident in question took place).
3) Gary Bettman obtains private text messages from Wideman’s phone – how they ever snuck that in the CBA as being allowable is a question in itself.
4) The league uses its power to delay the arbitration for the entirety of the NHL’s original suspension, thus ultimately getting what they wanted.

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What does this mean for the future? The NHL has basically flexed its muscles to send the message, “we will be judge, jury, and executioner” if we see fit.

Here we’ve got the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in an ongoing battle with Apple to obtain sensitive text messages (maybe they should have called up Gary Bettman and his sources).

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This situation has set a dangerous precedent moving forward. All it promises to do is add fragility between the relationship of the league and players (NHL/NHLPA). If anything, the PA has a laundry list of things to address in the next CBA – sounds like a year-long worth of issues that punishes fans similar to 2004-05.

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