Suspensions: NHL Should Give Longer Lengths Towards Them

I think the suspensions should be dealt with a 25/50/25 ratio.

1. 1st 25%—Reputation, have they had a suspension before, who are they?

Player types:

Yes if it's Sidney Crosby who is at fault, I think these type of players should be fined more harshly, so fans get to see what they paid to see, a superstar playing, but then their bank accounts are hit more.

Then, if it's a regular in the lineup, for example a Kevin Bieska or Francois Beauchemin type, they shouldn't get fined as much, but should be suspended longer.

Third if it's a player who is usually riding the pines, example "BizNasty" (Paul Bissonnette) he should receive about as much as Crosby gets, but receives a large fine as well as the team receiving the same amount for playing him that night. (If he's out of the lineup for a long time, it might actually help the team because they might replace him with a Miroslav Satan-type player would could come into the line up and put up 5 times the amount of points that player would).

Fourth would be an enforcer, like a George Parros he should be out plenty, but not as much as the last type of player.

A previously suspended player, like a Matt Cooke, should receive double or more each and every time they receive a suspension.

Example:

Blindside hit:

Superstar: Crosby—4 games—$100,000 fine

Ice time cruncher: Bieska—6 games—no fine

Bench Rider: Bissonnette—4 games—$50,000 fine, team $50,000 fine

Enforcer: Parros—5 games—$25,000 fine

Suspension Artist: Cooke—8 games—$50,000 fine

But again, that's if each and every hit were exactly the same.


2. 50%—The hit, what type of hit was it exactly, blindside hit, head shot, hit from behind, slew foot, sucker punch, etc. This, of course, should be the most important thing. If it was intentional, or non-intentional, If it was 50% a blindside hit or a full on 100% blindside hit.

Hard to make a list but I'll try, here are some of the most common Suspensions:

Illegal Gesture—1 game

Hard Slash—2 games

Boarding—2 games

Sucker Punch—2 games

Front headshot (ex. Cross-checking)—3 games

Elbowing—4 games

Back headshot—5 games

Blindside hit—6 games

These are only starting points, in my mind. If the other categories matter, like who they are and the length of the injury, then the suspensions should be longer.


3. 2nd 25%—Injury, how long the receiving player is out for, type of injury, etc. If the injured player is out for a week, or a month, or the rest of the season, then the suspension should be laid out longer. As well as a player who has been injured many more times.

Time Length of injury to suspension:

Player misses no games to one game, then the suspension stays 4 games.

Player misses a week, then the suspension lasts 5 games.

Player misses a month, then the suspension goes to 6 games.

And if the player is gone for a season, then suspended player is out for 8 or more games.

They should try to do the best to set black and white lines on these, cause it gets difficult to access what the suspension length it will be.

At the moment, each and every time a player about to receive a suspension is out, the jury is really out on what the length is, and usually it seems like the length is not long enough.

The league should use my structure or a variant of it starting next season.