Niklas Kronwall Suspension the Right Call but What's Fair or Foul Is Still Murky

Niklas Kronwall deserved to be suspended for one game. He launched himself into Nikita Kucherov, making initial, primary, forceful contact with the head. Kronwall's missing Game 7 against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night is a stiff punishment, one the NHL had no choice but to levy.

The NHL got it right Tuesday. There's no other way to interpret the news.

Yet the Detroit Red Wings, Kronwall and fans have every right to be angry and confused by the decision. 

It doesn’t mean they are correct, but those feelings are justified. 

The standard of officiating and supplemental discipline fall off a cliff every postseason. 

Imagine that for 10 months of the year, the laws in your city, state, province or country are understood by all citizens and enforced fairly by law enforcement bodies, which is a bit of a stretch, but go with it. Twenty miles over the speed limit? Here’s your ticket. Punched a guy in the face at a bar? Enjoy your night in jail. Murder? There’s this thing called 25-to-life.

Then, during this two-month period, the laws go out the window. It’s like The Purge, only it lasts for most of the spring instead of one night. A cop watches you run from a Best Buy with five laptops as a manager screams for help, only the cop takes the attitude of “Have to let the citizens decide this.”

That’s the Stanley Cup playoffs.

So it’s understandable when Red Wings general manager Ken Holland expressed displeasure with the ruling. Part of you thinks, “Typical general manager defending his player and whining about losing a top defenseman for a Game 7.”

Holland voiced his displeasure at the decision via Katie Strang of ESPN.com:

Then part of you thinks, “Well, maybe he has a point.” 

Think about what Holland has seen transpire this postseason.

Alex Ovechkin destroyed John Tavares from behind in Game 6 of the Isles-Capitals first-round series, then found a way to escalate it with an even more criminal hit on Thomas Hickey in Game 7. Then there’s P.K. Subban trying to cut off the hand of Mark Stone in Game 1 of the Senators-Canadiens series. 

Those are just a sampling of the incidents during the playoffs that are no-brainer suspensions in the regular season. But since this is the postseason, hey, you have to let the players decide the game and all that. 

If anything gives Holland the right to be angry, it’s the Subban-Stone incident, which was an entirely different play with all the same factors.

Subban’s slash and Kronwall’s leaping hit are obviously illegal; both Stone and Kucherov left with injuries only to return to their respective games; both Subban and Kronwall have never been suspended and both are the most important defenseman on their teams.

"Nothing for their guy, nothing for my guy," would be the obvious thought by Holland.

Yet Kronwall is on the side of the road as a cop writes a ticket because he was driving 100 mph in a school zone as all these other cars go whizzing past at the same speed. 

How can Holland not be upset?

If Kronwall had been given a five-minute major and game misconduct for his transgression, like Subban was for his, he probably escapes a suspension. If the referees on the ice had done their jobs properly, Kronwall is probably playing in Game 7, so keep that in mind before you send that angry, incoherent tweet to NHL Player Safety.

(Don't send angry, incoherent tweets to anyone, now that we are on that subject. They don't help anything.)

The NHL did the right thing with Kronwall, 100 percent, no doubt about it.

It’s just a shame the league doesn't get it right more often, especially in the postseason.

All statistics via NHL.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.