Claude Giroux Suspension: NHL Makes Right Call, Shows Inconsistency at Same Time

The NHL made the correct call by suspending Philadelphia Flyers star Claude Giroux for Game 5 because of his head shot on New Jersey Devils forward Dainius Zubrus from Sunday night's Game 4, but at the same time, the league showed its trademark inconsistency concerning player discipline rulings yet again.

Here is league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan's video on the Giroux suspension.

Giroux got suspended, and rightly so, but he is not a repeat offender, meaning he has not been suspended or fined in his brief NHL career.

On Saturday, Washington Capitals star Alexander Ovechkin left his feet and launched himself at New York Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi.

Girardi, like Zubrus, suffered no apparent injury and was able to continue playing for the remainder of the game in which the incident occurred.

Yet Ovechkin, who is the definition of a repeat offender (three career suspensions), didn't even get a hearing with the NHL regarding the hit on Girardi.

Below is a video of Ovechkin's hit on Girardi.

The fact that a player with no prior supplemental discipline history can get a one game suspension, while another player with a past of reckless hits which have led to suspensions gets no games when he delivers another bad hit, is absolutely mind-blowing.

Bruce Arthur of the National Post, like many of us, is puzzled by the NHL's inconsistency in decisions regarding suspensions.

"

Example: James Neal threw two hits like this on the same shift: one game. Malkin threw two or three sneaky ones: Zero. Ovi on Girardi: Zero.

— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 7, 2012"

When the NHL has suspended players this season, one of the biggest factors in the decision was the victim of the illegal hit suffering an injury. Very rarely has Shanahan punished players on intent only. 

Shanahan makes it clear in his Giroux suspension video that the Flyers forward was angry throughout his shift and went after Zubrus in a reckless manner. 

So, if Giroux is being punished for intent, why wasn't Nashville Predators star defenseman Shea Weber punished for intent when he drove Henrik Zetterberg's face into the boards back in round one of these playoffs?

While constructing a new CBA will be one of the league's biggest goals during the summer, fixing the Department of Player Safety needs to be high on the priority list for the NHL as well.

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Nicholas Goss is an NHL Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and was also the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in Boston.