Written by Luke Fox at SportsNet.Ca
Roughly a month and a half after the controversial incident, the Dennis Wideman appeal process is over. And the NHL disagrees with the outcome.
Independent arbitrator James Oldham chopped the NHL’s 20-game suspension of theCalgary Flames defenseman in half Friday, making it a 10-game ban. Wideman won’t get back the extra nine games he’s sat out, but he will be reimbursed $282,258.06 in lost pay.
Oldham’s decision reads as follows:
The Commissioner’s basic conclusion — that Wideman’s on-ice behavior resulting in Linesman Henderson’s concussion constituted physical abuse of an official calling for Supplemental Discipline for on-ice conduct — was correct. Also, the Commissioner’s use of League Rule 40 (“Physical Abuse of Officials”) as a framework for analysis was appropriate.
The Commissioner’s conclusion, however, that Wideman’s behavior constituted intentional action within the meaning of Rule 40.2, automatically triggering a penalty of not less than twenty games, is not endorsed in this appeal because, in my opinion, that conclusion is not substantially supported by the totality of the evidence presented to me at the NDA hearing.
In my judgment, the proper penalty should have been that specified in League Rule 40.3. Taking into account Wideman’s eleven years of discipline-free performance as a professional hockey player, there is no occasion to go beyond the ten game minimum specified in Rule 40.3.
Dennis Wideman’s penalty, therefore, should be reduced from twenty games to ten games, and it is so ordered.
The case was heard March 5 and 6 in New York City.
Wideman originally received a 20-game ban from NHL director of hockey operations Colin Campbell for cross-checking linesman Don Henderson during a game against the Nashville Predators on Jan. 27.
An initial appeal saw Wideman’s suspension upheld by league commissioner Gary Bettman, but Wideman and the NHLPA opted to take the matter to a neutral party — an unprecedented step in appeal process.
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