SB Nation Reacts to the NHL Wheel Of Justice

The big issue concerning the punishment of Steve Ott, and the punishments of Tuomo Ruutu and Rob Scuderi combined with no punishment for Mike Richards has caused a stir in the hockey community. Never before has the NHL’s seemingly random version of justice been more apparent than this past week when four separate but similar incidents were treated so differently by NHL Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell.

The big debate centers around the hip checks for Steve Ott and Rob Scuderi who have been punished in two completely different ways for very similar hits. Colin Campbell seems to imply that since Jason Chimera wasn’t hurt, the hit wasn’t so bad.

“Scuderi went really low and I felt it was a clip,” Campbell said Hockey Night in Canada Radio. “Fortunately, he didn’t injure the guy. He did hurt him on the play, as far as receiving a cut. But he came back in the game, Chimera, so I didn’t think it was a fair play and we fined him.”

Campbell compared Scuderi’s hitting style to that of fellow NHL defensemen Rob Blake and Kyle McClaren.

“He does hit guys with a hip check,” Campbell said. “Rob Blake’s name came up and Kyle McLaren’s, but they hit guys with their rear ends and they hit them in the hips and they hit them hard … [not] low.”

Scuderi was given an undisclosed fine for his hit, but Mike MacLean of The Cannon says the big issue is with the penalties handed out during the game.

First of all, the hit was what my teammates and I used to call “torpedoing a guy”. You go in for a hipcheck, but you are so close to the ice that you end up just nailing a guy in his knees, obivously sending him ass over tea kettle. That said, here’s my issue:- the guy who made the hit- Rob Scuderi- wasn’t penalized. Guess who was? That’s right- Chimmer. The guy who’s face was a mess with blood. He got a 10 minute misconduct for being pissed off. Derek Dorsett was also penalized for going after Scuderi. Apparently he was a little too anxious getting on the ice. He was given a game misconduct and the Jackets were given a too many men penalty. I am ok with that, because you can’t leave the bunch to fight. Fair enough, but the fact that Chimmer was penalized and Scuderi not is the issue at hand.

This is Scuderi’s first incident like this and the NHL took that into account when giving out his punishment. Yet today, Steve Ott was given a two game suspension for a similar hit that was nowhere near as bad. Granted, Ott is known as a repeat offender by the NHL and I’m sure the NHL was focused more on his history than than comparing the two hits against each other.

St. Louis Game Time takes a look at the inconsistencies between these incidents.

One other issue with these incidents are the penalties given. McCarthy didn’t get an instigator when he went after Ruutu – he got 5 for fighting. Crombeen goes after Ott and gets an instigator. The scrum between the Blue Jackets and Kings resulted in a Los Angeles powerplay, because of an instigator given to Chimera. He just almost got his neck broken. How the HELL is that instigating the fight?

That’s the equivalent of punishing the kid in a fight who defends himself, because he should have done the “right thing” and sat there to take it like a wuss. Sends a great message to that kid, and it sends a great message to the guy who is trying to stick up for himself.

In full disclosure as a Stars fan and manager of Defending Big D, I am a bit biased when it comes to Steve Ott. Yet I readily agree that he deserved to be suspended, but not for the hip check. His knee on knee hit on B.J. Crombeen from the same game was much more dangerous.

Here is Defending Big D’s take on the Ott suspension:

Steve Ott toes the line between agitation and insanity. Stars fans love the edge he brings to the team, but at the same time he needs to find ways to hold himself back. He’s much more valuable to this team when he’s on the ice and not when he’s suspended or hurt. Ott is now a three-time offender in the eyes of the NHL; any more questionable or dirty hits and he could be looking at a very lengthy suspension.

That being said, the fact that Ott was suspended for just the hip check is ridiculous and proves just how inconsistent the NHL is when doling out punishments. Rob Scuderi lays out a much more devastating type of hit and only receives a fine; perhaps the suspension has more to do with Ott’s past and reputation.