It is as if the NHL operates in a timewarp.
Or rather, it's as if they are so greedy that they just don't care about paltry things like evidence and danger.
Does fighting lead to guys being killed? to concussions? to post-career problems that are both avoidable and horrible?
The evidence of this seems to be pretty rock solid.
But where is the complete ban on fighting?
Oh, if you write that fighting should be immediately eliminated, half the fans who read it call you names and suggest you've never played the game, so we can't really get rid of it, cause it will cost money.
In a week where the league's emails were leaked, and where it became clear that a Colin Campbell is a victim-blaming enabler who is way too old and outdated to have a voice in today's game, and who in no way should be responsible for anyone's safety or, frankly, their order from Taco Bell, the NHL decided it's pretty much OK to smash guys in the face with hockey sticks.
In light of his emails, it's clear that if you get murdered, Colin Campbell will consider it your fault for being in the proximity of a murderer. It's a wonder their wasn't an email where he defended Bill Cosby.
So, you would figure that it would be the perfect time for the league to help repair it's image by giving a suspension that says smashing a guy in the face with a six foot stick is not OK.
The Director of Player Safety, Patrick Burke on the hit:
Keith slashes his stick dangerously and violently directly into the face of Coyle. This is an intentional and retaliatory act of violence by a player with a history of using his stick as a weapon.
INTENTIONAL
RETALIATORY
HISTORY OF USING STICK AS WEAPON.
Six games?
Keep in mind that five of these games are at the end of the season for a player who is likely banged up and exhausted after eight straight months of playing games every other night and traveling nearly daily.
I would bet if you could poll players who play on teams that have clinched a Playoff spot, they'd prefer to take the next five games off.
So basically, the Blackhawks will get back one of the best players in the NHL, fresh, relaxed and healed for the second game of the Playoffs.
By smashing a playing in the face with a stick, on purpose, because he was angry, the offending player gets a holiday and his team gets an advantage.
But of course, the NHL has to weigh the future safety of its players and its reputation as not the NFL against the fact that one of its best, most valuable and successful teams would have to lose one of their best players and likely have no chance at securing an impressive fourth Stanley Cup in seven years.
Then they likely had to run the whole thing by Darren Dreger.
So it's really a no-brainer when you think about it. Huge Market. Best Player. Great Story. Money at Stake.
I mean, Coyle could have suffered a broken jaw, a concussion, the end of his career, the potential loss of millions of dollars, the loss of an eye, whatever........but he didn't.
He is totally fine, so who cares?
It's just - in the words the guy responsible for discipline - a retaliatory, intentional assault with a six foot weapon.
No big deal, just give the boy a vacation.