Despite James Wisniewski's Childish Act, NHL Went Too Far in Two-Game Ban

Filed under: Islanders, NHL Discipline

James Wisniewski absolutely deserved to be punished for simulating oral sex during his goal crease skirmish with Rangers shift disturber Sean Avery. But while this may seem like splitting hairs, the NHL went too far in suspending the Islanders' defenseman for two games, instead of just one.

What Wisniewski did was wrong. No one, so far not even anyone associated with the Islanders, has tried to condone his action. It was awkward and embarrassing. But there was something innocent about Wisniewski's terrible lapse of judgment.

Not for a moment did I believe it was premeditated. Not for a moment did the first-year Islander think he would take the majority of the North American headlines away from his team's uplifting, come-from-behind 6-4 win over the rival Rangers. Not for a moment did Wisniewski think about the potential of embarrassment for his team, his league or -- as a husband of three months -- himself.

No, he didn't think. That's why, as unseemly as the moment was, he deserves a pass. For those few seconds in the heat of battle against one of the game's most notorious characters, James Wisniewski might have thought he was playing against the rest of the 15-year-olds at 6:00 am in Michigan. He might have forgotten that he wasn't knocking the puck around with his buddies on the available ice at midnight. Wisniewski lost his way, but it was only because his intensity blurred the thought of where he was.

 

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