Rene Bourque Suspension: 5-Game Suspension for Flames Star Not Enough

Calgary Flames star Rene Bourque was suspended five games by the NHL on Wednesday for his vicious elbow to the head of Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom on Tuesday night.

Bourque should have been suspended for 10 games, or at least eight for this terrible elbow to Backstrom's jaw. 

This is a clear violation of Rule 48, and it's an incident that has absolutely no place in the game of hockey. These hits have the ability to severely injure players, and thankfully Backstrom did not suffer a major injury from the elbow.

Here is the video explanation of the hit and suspension by league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan.

The NHL needed to come down much harder on Bourque. In December he was suspended two games for checking from behind, yet he still did not change his play and be more safe on the ice.

Bourque clearly knew what he was doing here. Backstrom already passed the puck when Bourque put his elbow right into Backstrom's jaw. 

Shanahan said one thing in the above the video that should make hockey fans irate.

“When we look at the events of this game, we believe Bourque's assertion that this was an instinctive reflex rather than a premeditated intent to injure."

Instinctive reflex? Are you kidding me? If a player "instincitvely" hits players in an illegal way such as this then they should be banned for well over 10 games.

Shanahan is not going to change the NHL and make it safer with these weak suspensions. For Bourque to really learn his lesson and change his style of play, a longer suspension is needed.

A reckless hit like this is disgusting and after all the talk of concussions this season in the NHL, the league's punishment for a terrible hit like this is quite weak and shows they are not taking head shots seriously enough.

How does a guy get only a five-game suspension for a vicious elbow when he was just suspended two weeks ago for a dirty play? It's amazing how poor of a job the NHL does in determining how many games to suspend players for different incidents.

Here is the check on Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook that got Bourque suspended for two games last month.

One of the biggest issues here is consistency. Too often are players suspended too many games for minor incidents and too few games for dangerous incidents such as this.

I applaud Shanahan for his work this season, his first as league disciplinarian, but he has a lot of work to do if he wants to really take these atrocious hits such as Bourque's elbow out of the game.

Bouque's elbow on Backstrom was dirty, cheap, and classless. He should have been suspended more than five games, but once again, the NHL proves that it just doesn't understand how to keep the game safe.

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