Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman brings unwelcome news for Nashville Predators fans:
No hearings scheduled from NHL regarding Steve Downie or anything from NASH/COL last night
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 5, 2013
Preds Getting the Small-Market Shaft?
Yeah, I can’t help but wonder if this was a New York Rangers player getting steamrolled, or one of the other big-market teams, that the NHL would take stronger action. When I took a look at which teams were on the receiving end of hits that led to suspensions from the NHL office, the results from the last several years were surprising:
…in terms of which teams are on the receiving end of suspendable offenses, the Original Six enjoy a privileged (dare we say protected?) status. Heck, the New York Rangers almost look like the home team for the folks at NHL Headquarters. Wait a minute…
Meanwhile, the folks in Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa, New Jersey and Columbus would certainly appear to have something to complain about. The next time such a fan spins a conspiracy theory that the league doesn’t suspend guys who take a run at their players, well, it looks like they’re right.
Dating back to the 2005-2006 season, here is the list of which team had a player get hit on a play which resulted in a suspension from the NHL. Do you notice any trend?
The complete spreadsheet is available to review on Google. For another look at the hit itself, here you go:
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