Recently it was announced courtesy of the New York Rangers twitter account that Derek Stepan will be out 4-6 weeks with broken ribs. Stepan suffered this injury on Friday when Matt Beleskey nailed him with a late hit.
Video of the entire incident below.
This shows the immediate ineptitude of the Department of Player Safety for not suspending Beleskey for this reckless hit. You can count a full two seconds after the puck left to the hit. I don’t think hits like this have been accepted since the time of Scott Stevens. It begs the question what the hell is the league thinking?
The league, while being faced with lawsuits, needs to change its image and do so quickly. Anything to the neck or head needs to warrant a suspension, evidenced recently by the Brandon Dubinsky suspension. When you have the best player in the game, Sidney Crosby in this case getting attacked, you need to make a statement and apparently that statement is you’ll only be suspended one game.
Where is the consistency in any of it?
Beleskey has never had an infraction which for one reason or another is a variable in the suspension formula, so he didn’t receive a call from the league. What exactly does it take to get a suspension in the league?
Well the first step is you have to be a marketable star on the receiving end of the play. If that isn’t the case and you are the person committing the infraction you need to have a record as the league will look to make an example out of you. Raffi Torres, who to be honest is a bit of a wingnut, was suspended 41 games for a hit that has warranted much less in the past. What was the point of suspending him for such a length? Mostly in hopes of deterring players who have similar paths from committing similar hits.
The system itself is convoluted and is no longer doing what its intended mission is supposed to be. People want to blame the people in charge of the department but the real problem stems from what the league wants from a PR stand point. You need to put the best product on the ice and sometimes that means allowing some bone crunching hits for the sake of optics.
Are you as dizzy as I am after trying to figure out what the Department of Player Safety is doing?
