Call it the injustice of justice

When the NHL hands out suspensions, history shows Canadian teams get a break

RALEIGH -- In an act that had the potential to cause serious injury, Minnesota Wild forward Aaron Voros ran Carolina Hurricanes star Eric Staal headfirst into the boards from behind last Thursday, leaving Staal crumpled in front of the Minnesota bench.

Voros received a five-minute major penalty but was not suspended for the hit, which left Staal unhurt.

In January, then-Hurricanes forward Craig Adams took a run at Toronto Maple Leafs forward Alex Steen, catching Steen in the head with his stick and receiving a minor penalty on the play.

The morning after Adams high-sticked Steen, Colin Campbell, the NHL's executive vice president of hockey operations, assessed Adams a two-game suspension for the incident, which caused no injury.

What was the difference between the two incidents, particularly given that the NHL has decided to suspend only 50 players in the more than 3,900 regular-season, preseason and playoff games since the lockout?

Perhaps it was that Adams' offense was committed against a player from a Canadian team.

A News & Observer analysis of NHL discipline since the 2005-06 season found that almost one-third of the suspensions handed down were assessed for offenses committed against Canadian teams, which represent only six of the league's 30 franchises -- but are the six most visible.

"We don't try to look at a pattern here," Campbell said. "Maybe we should. It's not who's in first and who's in last. We try to look at it as an independent, individual situation: Is a player wronging another player? We don't care what team it is. All we care about is, did he cross the line and is he a repeat offender?"

Discipline discrepancy

Aside from a dozen or so mandatory suspensions issued for instigating fights late in games, throwing sticks into the stands or other discipline spelled out in the rulebook, the NHL has issued 50 suspensions on a discretionary basis since the lockout.

Fifteen of those were issued for offenses committed against the six Canadian teams, while 36 were assessed when players from the 24 U.S. teams were the victim. Meanwhile, only five suspensions were assessed against players on the Canadian teams.

For purposes of comparison, players from the six Southeast Division teams have been suspended eight times -- including Carolina's Adams and Scott Walker this season, both for infractions against Canadian teams -- while five players have been suspended for offenses against the Southeast.

"Obviously, to the extent your numbers are correct, I would suggest that it is a function of random chance," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said in an e-mail. "The process is blind as to player nationality and team identity."

Perhaps most striking is the discrepancy involving the three eastern Canadian teams -- the Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators: three suspensions given to players on those three teams and 12 for fouls against them.

The N&O analysis found no such discrepancies with regard to the nationality of individual players, but more suspensions have been assessed against Eastern Conference teams than Western Conference teams, by a three-to-two margin.

After suspending 10 players in the first three months of the season, the league hadn't issued a suspension since Jan. 23 -- until four players were suspended this week.

"I definitely feel like there's inconsistency, a lot of inconsistency, but I don't know that there's a pattern of inconsistency," said Adams, who now plays for the Chicago Blackhawks. "Sometimes the decisions you see made or the decisions that aren't made leave you scratching your head.