The NHL has announced that Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman has been suspended for 20 games for running over linesman Don Henderson on January 27th, 2016 when the Flames played the Nashville Predators at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Wideman, 32, will forfeit $546,516.13 to the NHL’s Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund during his suspension.
That’s a long skate before Wideman hit the linesman. https://t.co/eXRst3mLSd
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) January 28, 2016
Wideman was hit hard into the boards by the Predators Miikka Salomaki in the Flames zone. He was slow getting up and appeared to be woozy, possibly concussed by the hit. He then started skating towards the Flames bench to get off the ice and collided with Henderson, who had his back to the play and could not see Wideman approaching him. Wideman was not penalized on the play but he did return for a shift later in the game. Henderson was not injured and continued to officiate the game. He reportedly went to hospital following the game.
The hit has garnered a ton of criticisms, mainly because Wideman appeared to dish out a full cross check on Henderson and it appeared that he had ample time to avoid the linesman or alert him that he was behind. But if Wideman was indeed concussed by the hit, which seems to be the case by how he got up and how he did not appear to know he had bowled over an official, then it was truly an accident. Due to Rule 40 in the NHL, accident or not, Wideman being suspended and/or being given a fine was inevitable.
Another interesting fact in this situation is that Wideman did not go to the trainer’s room to undergo concussion protocol, which is another rule in the NHL. If there was any suspicion that he could have been concussed, and it certainly did appear so, then he should have left the bench to be evaluated in the quiet room before a decision was made if he could return to the game.
Wideman has appeared in 48 games this season and has put up 2 goals and 19 points, good for fourth in defenseman scoring on the Flames. He will be eligible to return on March 11th, 2016 versus the Arizona Coyotes. He is also able to appeal the suspension and is expected to. The first appeal would go to Gary Bettman. If he is still suspended for 6 or more games by Bettman, he could then appeal to a neutral third party arbitrator.
