December 19, 2007 @ 12:32
The NHL went a long way in upholding their image as the professional “Yahoo” League today by suspending Chris Simon for only 30 games.
It’s the longest suspension in the history of the NHL, but that means nothing when you consider his long history of goonery and the latest action that put him on the sidelines.
The NHL should have suspended Chris Simon for life without given it any more than a split second of consideration. If ever there was an example of assault with a deadly weapon in a professional sport, this was it.
Simon saw Pittsburgh's Jarkko Ruutu in a prone position and deliberately stomped on the side of Ruutu's foot with his skate blade.
No different than taking a knife or a machete from underneath his sweater and using it in the same manner. Simon knew what he was doing, he must have thought about it before he raised his leg with a sharp skate on the end of it and stomped down.
To my mind its worse than head butting, slew footing or stick swinging. None are excusable, but using a skate as a weapon takes things into a whole new stratosphere and the NHL responded in a feeble manner.
To be honest, over the years when on-ice action found its way into the courts I never really bought into it. I thought the league was capable of policing its own.
This incident is different. Chris Simon should have been criminally charged.
Category: Sports
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