The NHL didn’t give Lindy Ruff another chance to hammer on the justice process. They suspended Jordin Tootoo for two games based on his actions on Saturday against the Sabres.
Surely there are Sabres fans up in arms over this ruling, but it is an appropriate sentence for the play.
Realistically, Tootoo’s sentence is right in line with the play from Saturday. You might even say Tootoo probably shouldn’t have had to answer beyond his five minute major and game misconduct on Saturday had the NHL gotten it right the first time. The NHL’s reasoning behind giving Lucic a pass was he didn’t show intent to hit Miller, despite what looked like obvious evidence to the contrary. In comparing the two incidents one could conclude there was plenty more intent from Lucic than Tootoo. Regardless, Lucic’s actions deserved a few games in the press box, the NHL didn’t see it that way and it left the door open for further incidents.
To Tootoo’s credit, he looked to be giving some effort to avoid Miller while also throwing his body at the superstar. Yes, a major contradiction. But it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say Tootoo was hoping to hit Miller while avoiding him, one of those accidentally on purpose things. So, the Shanahammer made his “statement” and gave Tootoo a couple of nights off in order to appease the masses.
Will this end all of the huffing and puffing? Not by a long shot. This was nothing more than a slap on the wrist and won’t send the message that players will miss significant time if this is to continue. This play wasn’t as violent as the Lucic hit, so the league was in a tough spot. It was a lose-lose situation but they seem to have lost big time with the choice they made. For what it’s worth, the days of gongshow hockey and freight train attacks on goalies are few and far between. Still, for this to happen to Miller in each of his last two outings looked to be more than a coincidence and something needed to be done.
The league didn’t do itself any favors with an elementary school punishment. The play certainly didn’t warrant 15 games, but a two-game sentence harkens back to the days of Colin Campbell. It certainly doesn’t signal a serious change in the way the league hopes to operate.
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