Under Rule 40 of the NHL's handbook, Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman was subject to a suspension of no less than 10 games for his collision with linesman Don Henderson last Wednesday. The hit, which you can see here, was violent. It's difficult to tell whether or not it was intentional, but there's no denying the physical harm it did to Henderson.
The league clearly felt that Wideman's actions were unacceptable and likely intentional, as they announced that the veteran defenseman has been suspended for 20 games as a result.
Wideman will forfeit $564,516.20 in salary, which will go to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.
After the game in which he collided with Henderson, Wideman was apologetic, but pointed to a hit moments before that left him woozy as the reason behind his strange behavior.
"I took a pretty hard hit down in the corner and had some pretty good pain in my shoulder and my neck and I was just trying to get off the ice," Wideman said after the game. "I was kind of keeled over and at the last second, I looked up and I saw him and I couldn't avoid it."
The video bears this out, but it's also difficult to tell why Wideman seemed to throw his arms out at the referee at the last moment.
20 games is a significant ban, but as ESPN's Pierre LeBrun notes, Wideman has the right to appeal NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's decision. If the suspension remains longer than six games after Wideman's initial appeal, he can then take his case before a neutral arbitrator in an attempt to get it reduced further.
