Briere Officially Suspended Three Games

The NHL officially announced today that Danny Briere will be suspended three games for swinging his stick in the face of New York Islander Frans Nielsen on Saturday night. The hit was delivered after the faceoff was taken in the last minute of play.  Nielsen could be seen visibly yelling at Briere, and the combination of the obscenities and his aggressive behavior on the previous play sparked Briere to take initiative against Nielsen.

The decision to suspend Briere is reasonable considering the nature of the infraction, but the length is suspect. The NHL doesn’t have a set of guidelines to follow for determining the length of a suspension, but rather uses their own sense of judgment as well as an individual’s case history. The fact that Briere was suspended for two games in November of 2009 for a late hit against Colorado Avalanche forward Scott Hannan is probably what influenced their judgement, but recent suspensions around the league make it more confusing.

Earlier this month, Chicago Blackhawk Niklas Hjalmarsson was suspended two games for boarding Buffalo Sabre Jason Pominville, who had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher. Hjalmarsson was suspended two games. Hjalmarsson does not have any prior suspensions in his case history, but the violent nature of the hit certainly deserved more attention than Briere throwing his stick in Nielsen’s face.

The Hjalmarsson incident also negates the idea that the length of the suspension against Briere was to keep him out of the line-up against the Islanders this Saturday, as Hjalmarsson’s first game back was a rematch against the Sabres.

Briere told Lisa Hillary of CSN, “I was shocked to be honest. I didn’t expect it to be that much. I thought because I was a repeat offender that they’d give me a game because of it…” He suggested that based on the conversation he had with NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell, Campbell basically made up his mind before they even made the call.

The lack of disciplinary consistency by the league year after year is ridiculous. I wouldn’t go so far to say that it has anything to do with the Flyers’ reputation, as many teams have been the recipient of Campbell’s bizarre sense of justice. Briere ultimately drew the short end of the stick this time, but he could have avoided the issue entirely if he kept the short end of his stick out of Nielsen’s face.