It's kind of ironic that in this instantaneous digital age, Anaheim Ducks captain Chris Pronger was able to initially avoid a suspension mainly because there was no good video footage of his despicable on-ice action this week.
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| Chris Pronger skates off with minimal discipline compared to less-talented Chris Simon. (Getty Images) |
Enter the latter-day Zapruder factor, which in this case played out in the form of another tape of the incident that emerged and made its way to NHL offices, forcing Campbell to re-examine the situation. By the time he did, it was pretty obvious that even though this involved one of the league's top stars, it couldn't be swept under the rug.
At least not entirely, although Pronger's eight-game ban comes pretty close.
Pronger and Kesler collided on the end boards and the Canucks player went down, getting a leg wrapped around the Anaheim player's. Pronger looked like he was frantically trying to extricate himself at first to get back in the play, but once he did, he came down for good measure on the leg of the prone Vancouver forward before skating away.
The action was dangerous, not to mention eerily similar to what former New York Islander Chris Simon did to Pittsburgh's Jarkko Ruutu earlier this season. Ruutu fortunately wasn't hurt -- and neither was Kesler -- but Simon, who had been suspended seven times in the past, was banned for a league record 30 games.
"The deliberate act of kicking an opponent with an exposed skate blade, especially where the opponent is in a vulnerable position, is an always has been a repugnant and totally unacceptable act in the game of hockey," Campbell said in a statement when he handed down Simon's suspension.
Certainly not when the aggressor is only a marginal player, that is. Of course, the harshness of Simon's sentence was in large part the result of his history, something he couldn't help but mentioning when asked for his reaction after Pronger had apparently escaped the long arm of the law.
"It would be nice to have things treated fairly, at least," said Simon, who was traded to the Minnesota Wild shortly after his suspension ended. "I don't think in that instance it's fair at all."
Imagine what he's thinking now that Pronger has been given what amounts to a break to rest up for the playoffs. Apologists might argue that since Kesler avoided injury, there was no harm, no foul, but then again, we're talking about a perpetrator who many considered to be one of the dirtiest players in the league.
But unlike Simon, Pronger is a major talent, someone who is good enough to win a Norris and Hart Trophy and to be named to multiple All-Star teams. But he also has been reckless enough to lose it at some of the worst of times.
Pronger received the sixth and seventh suspensions of his career during the Ducks Stanley Cup run last spring, both for vicious blind side hits that injured opponents, but being that it was late in the playoffs, he was forced to sit down for just one game in each instance. There were more than one suggestion of favoritism at the time and it's fair to make a similar argument now.
Eight games is nearly 10 percent of the schedule, so it sounds harsh on the surface and make the NHL look like it is taking these kinds of acts seriously. But scratch a little deeper and you'll see it really doesn't mean much to Anaheim right now because it's too far out to overtake San Jose for the Pacific Division title and a top seed. The Ducks are destined to be fourth or fifth in the West, which is essentially the same to them because they are just as tough on the road as they are at home. And with Scott Niedermayer, Mathieu Schneider and Francois Beauchemin still patrolling the blue line, they can handle a few weeks that are largely inconsequential in their grand scheme of things.
Moreover, Anaheim has nine regular season games to go, so Pronger will even get a chance to get a quick tune-up in before the playoffs, which means this disciplinary action doesn't send much of a message to him. Just like the minimal suspensions failed to do last spring.
Back then the Ducks had several players step up in his absence and win both games he did not play. That's a credit to the team when it can rise that way when a star player is out, but it also tells Pronger, and other players of similar stature, that they can act with impunity and effectively get away with it.
Sitting Pronger through the end of the first playoff round at least might change his mind.