Commissioner Gary Bettman has put the hammer down on Maple Leafs forward Mark Bell today, suspending the troubled forward for 15 regular season games (without pay) for his driving under the influence and hit and run incident in the fall of 2006.
This is an interesting development, especially considering Toronto GM John Ferguson was on sports radio all last week saying he didn't believe Bell would miss any time this season. I also can't recall if the NHL ever even dealt a suspension for off-ice conduct.
It would be incredibly naive to think there's not some connection between this move by the league and all of the off-ice discipline that's occurred in other major-league sports recently (eg., Michael Vicks, etc.), something that's been pointed to as a 'crack down' on the bad boys of sport.
I applaud the NHL for recognizing that off-ice conduct impacts on the league. But I see this developing into a real quagmire. What other types of conduct is deemed to be "dishonorable, prejudicial to or against the welfare of the League or the game of hockey"? How about Rick Tocchet who was involved in an illegal gambling ring? Dany Heatley accidentally killed a team mate because of excessive speeding - doesn't that deserve a suspension? The NHL can't be proud of the drunken brawl (and underage drinking) that the Stall brothers got into this summer? Bobby Hull was a wife beater, isn't that conduct that would be dishonourable to the league? How about cheating on your wife? Punching an annoying reporter? I could go on and on. The NHL has a hard enough time be fair and consistent in handing out suspensions for on-ice conduct. This is going to be a lot tougher.
12 years ago
