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John Moore Gets a Five-Game Suspension, Long Enough or Too Short?

October 29, 2014, 7:09 PM ET [115 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
John Moore received a five-game suspension for his hit on Minnesota's Erik Haula in Monday's game. My first thought is he got off lucky. However, my prevailing thought is that the Department of Player Safety failed to deliver the kind of message that needed to be sent with a longer suspension.

Moore is a repeat offender, both shots coming to the head of Dale Weise and Haula. He was suspended two games last year after his Game 5 hit to Weise. This time, Moore got five games, the rationale of that amount makes little sense to me based on his being repeat offender and points of contact for each hit. So did Stephane Quintal employ a factor of 2.5, multiplying the first suspension by that amount to come up with the five games for the second hit? Is that reasonable? Is it a real deterrent? So, if Moore does it a third time over the length of time required for him to be viewed again as a repeat offender, does he get 12.5 games?

I realize the above sounds somewhat flippant, but if you going to really try and crack down on head shots, then you really need to crack down on head shots. What Quintal has done is give a level above a slap on the wrist. If you really wanted to send a message, then a 10-game suspension would have been handed out. I understand the five games prevents an appeal by Moore to an independent arbitrator. In addition, his shoulder first contacted Haula' chest, however, the brunt of the impact was to Haula's head. It's that latter part of the prior sentence that should have driven the longer suspension.

While Moore is out, either Conor Allen or Dylan McIlrath will likely be promoted. As you know, I think Allen deserves a shot at consistent play, but I could see McIlrath here to give him some game exposure. In addition, this gives Matt Hunwick a further window to prove his worth, which could cost Moore playing time when Dan Boyle returns.

What do you think? Was five games fair or should Moore have received a longer period of absence?
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