James Wisniewski Suspended for Two Games

[GCBC00]

Originally Posted by Habs # 1

Two games? a fine would have sufficed... wonder how many games Hjalmarsson will get.

Looks like Hjalmarsson will get 2 games for the nasty hit from behind. Definitely should have held up. I truly think he's a good kid. Definitely not a Wiz or Avery.

As for the gesture...we've all seen worse in the game and recieve less. I believe it has alot to do with Wiz's reputation and past behavior.
Take care...

[rondo]

Sounds like a ladys aid here...Wiz is a repeat offender and what he did is just not the way a professional athlete should be acting even if avery is a cock sucking ***....80 grand ouch...Before you rip me remember this is not the WWF...

[predglen]

Honestly, boys and girls, was the gesture making that fukwad Avery look like a total clown-boy something everybody in the league had thought of before but didn't do? I'm thrilled to see another player publicly out do Avery with an antic he'd do, Wiz totally one up-ed the guy and has to pay the price. I think it's a shame that Cammalleri wasn't suspended for more and I also think Hjalmersson should see more than two games for his lame-o hit on Poms. Campbell et al. should have just fined him like....$1 to send a message to Avery and his ilk and called it a day. 2 games is excessive and hopefully it's worth it to everybody who got as big a laugh out of it as I did.

[ThrowdownSJ408]

so funny. first throat slash now this. NHL is getting great. Totally worth it. Avery laughed.

[nilan30]

Good call. No need for crap like that in the game. Call him a cock licker but don't do crap like that just to be seen in the hilight packages. Avery is right that if he did it he'd have gotten at least double the suspension and 95% of guys on here would've said it wasn't long enough. If Wiznwisike really wants to give Avery a BJ why doesn't he just send him a text before the game?

[CBarnes]

does this maybe have something to do with Bettman and Burke's son?

[BrianTheAdsFan]

Originally Posted by IhateLindros

So lemme get this straight...

Boynton: "Kneeing" + "throat-slash" gesture= 1 game
Cammalleri: Swinging a stick at a guy's face + "baseball swing slash"= 1 game
Hjalmarsson: Boarding/charging + guy taken off on a stretcher= 2 games
Wisniewski: "Oral sex" gesture= 2 games

So when guys get hit from behind and taken off on stretchers, it equates to less than what Wiz did??

Talk about a lack of consistency. So Wiz's suspension is worth two "guys taken off on stretchers."

Think of all of those impressionable children that were there that will be watching those new NHL super hero comics...

[HordiBrusk29]

Originally Posted by BROKEN*ORBITAL

He said a couple from Carolina actually cancelled their season's tickets because of it.

I highly doubt that. Isn't being forced to watch the Canes on a consistent basis enough of a reason to want to revoke your season tickets? That gesture was probably the most entertaining thing they saw all season long.

[Ciccarelli]

Two important points:

- this was an afternoon game on a holiday
- Wisniewski made the gesture on the ice and not on the bench


I can see that the league thinks this was suspension worthy because of the points above, but the problem is the inconsistency with the suspensions. They can't suspend a player for one game that risks an injury of an opponent and then go out and suspend another one for more games because of a gesture.

This makes the league look ridicolous and unprofessional.

IMO they should have fined (with a certain amount of money) Wisniewski as they did usually for similar things like this.

[bustoff]

Sounds like the league is looking into what Avery did before hand to provoke Wiz. Hope they find something. That would be hilarious.

[Juha82]

I think these suspension could to gets players plAYING with ***** way more in the league because they are warning the players.
An emotion disappears of the games which would be a catastrofy.

[LuigiStone]

Originally Posted by BROKEN*ORBITAL

Matthew Barnaby on TSN saying he was involved in a similar situation years back in Carolina. He said his gesture was "much worse" than Wiz's. He said a couple from Carolina actually cancelled their season's tickets because of it. He said no cameras picked it up and the league was able to sweep it under the rug so he didn't get in trouble.

That's America for you.

[acdcrocksno1]

Homophobia is a big thing at the moment, Wiz should know that and on a game which is on a holiday at the middle of the day he had to know this was coming

[5 4 Fighting]

Originally Posted by HordiBrusk29

Stupid, but expected nonetheless. He should get a raise.

haha...he should

[Isles4life]

What Wisniewski did, while amusing, was bound to get him in trouble because he had the cameras directly on him. As I said in the game day thread, worse things are said and done on the ice and bench, but the players don't get caught doing them, so no subsequent discipline is given. This was just a momentary lapse in judgment while he had the bad luck of being the center of attention, and the media took it and ran.

I was expecting 1 game, but this ruling really does point out, once again, the lack of any logical system for handing out suspensions. A more fitting penalty would be a hefty fine, but under the current rules I believe there's a limit to how much the league can fine a player before suspending him. So I understand why they'd look to suspend him, but this stuff just seems absolutely ridiculous when on the same day you hand out the same length suspension for a play that led to another player being hauled off on a stretcher. The emphasis of what should really be punishable just makes no sense to me.