Dennis Wideman Suspended Indefinitely

[cardsfan04]

This whole incident reminds me of the 2000 World Series in which Roger Clemens picked up the broken bat from Mike Piazza and threw it at him. And Clemen's response was that it was an accident and he was just trying to get it out of the way. But video clearly showed him chucking that thing at Piazza in a very deliberate and angry manner. Same thing with Wideman - he can say this and that and it was unintentional and he bumped the ref getting off the ice but when you watch the replay he clearly cross checks the ref from behind. That's intentional.

Why do you think he jumps his feet to the side as if he's trying to get out of the way at the last second? I think it's possible that it was intentional. I just can't say it was definitely intentional when he moves as if to get out of the way right as he makes contact.

[Kerfuffle]

Why do you think he jumps his feet to the side as if he's trying to get out of the way at the last second? I think it's possible that it was intentional. I just can't say it was definitely intentional when he moves as if to get out of the way right as he makes contact.

I believe the whole thing was deliberate and intentional. He skated right at him hard and cross checked the ref to the ice. Seems cut and dry to me.

[cardsfan04]

Why do you think he jumps his feet to the side as if he's trying to get out of the way at the last second? I think it's possible that it was intentional. I just can't say it was definitely intentional when he moves as if to get out of the way right as he makes contact.

I believe the whole thing was deliberate and intentional. He skated right at him hard and cross checked the ref to the ice. Seems cut and dry to me.

Yeah, I get that. The one thing that makes me not think that it was deliberate is that his reaction when he makes contact appears to be to try to jump to the side to avoid him even though it's already too late. What else could he be doing when he does that other than trying to avoid him (again, but too late)? Until that was pointed out, I was kinda leaning toward thinking it was intentional, but I can't explain what he was doing with his feet other than trying to avoid him.

[gaijin]

It's been brought up but it bears repeating: what reason does Wideman have for deliberately and intentionally cross-checking a ref in the back that viciously? What's in it for him? Did the ref blatantly non-call something the Preds did? I don't know. Did the ref call a BS penalty on the Flames that cost them a goal? I don't know. Do the ref and Wideman have a personal history of conflict? I don't know.

I do know that for a player to cross-check a referee in cold blood carries a penalty severe enough to act as a deterrent for such actions in all but the most extreme of cases. Taking that into account, I don't know if you can PROVE Wideman had intent. Think of motive in a murder case. What is the motive here? And does Wideman have a history of character issues?

I guess we just wait for the hearing.

[ComradeT]

Looks intentional no matter how many times I look at the video. He picks his head up way before he reaches the ref, so his reaction seems deliberate. The only thing I can think of is that if his vision was a bit impaired from the hit (say, he was seeing colorful circles like I did when my bell got rung once), he may not have realized he was looking at the ref and thought if was a Pred skating toward him. Other than that, he picked his head up, saw the guy and dropped him.

[cprice12]

Why do you think he jumps his feet to the side as if he's trying to get out of the way at the last second? I think it's possible that it was intentional. I just can't say it was definitely intentional when he moves as if to get out of the way right as he makes contact.

I believe the whole thing was deliberate and intentional. He skated right at him hard and cross checked the ref to the ice. Seems cut and dry to me.

What? He most certainly does nothing of the sort.

[cprice12]

It's been brought up but it bears repeating: what reason does Wideman have for deliberately and intentionally cross-checking a ref in the back that viciously? What's in it for him? Did the ref blatantly non-call something the Preds did? I don't know. Did the ref call a BS penalty on the Flames that cost them a goal? I don't know. Do the ref and Wideman have a personal history of conflict? I don't know.

I do know that for a player to cross-check a referee in cold blood carries a penalty severe enough to act as a deterrent for such actions in all but the most extreme of cases. Taking that into account, I don't know if you can PROVE Wideman had intent. Think of motive in a murder case. What is the motive here? And does Wideman have a history of character issues?

I guess we just wait for the hearing.

I brought this up before and it bears repeating.
Wideman has no history of anything like this and he's not a dirty player.
So...those who say this was intentional and malicious expect us to believe that Wideman for some reason decided to make a bee line for an official, and lay him out with a cross check, (which carries a lenghty suspention), for absolutely no reason whatsoever?

Uhhh...why?
Why is that more plausible than what Wideman says happened?

Wideman's story makes a hell of a lot more sense to me. And after closely looking at the video, I feel the video backs up his story.
Being a guy who has played in college and in men's leagues for 20 years, it seems obvious to me that what Wideman said happened is quite plausible...especially since he tries to get out of the way at the last second and got his hands and stick up to brace for impact.

I like how some are saying that Wideman is looking at the ref the whole time when the camera is behind Wideman. You have no idea what he is looking at. You can't see his eyes. His eyes could be looking down at the ice or even closed for all we know (not likely closed, but still).

The malicious argument just doesn't make any sense to me. There is no motive there.

[The Flake]

Yeah. I've enjoyed watching Wideman play just as much as anybody since he came into the NHL and granted he has no history and doesn't seem to be that sort of player but two thing remain. He crosschecked a ref. period. end of discussion. If I'm the NHL, I set a precedent that no matter what the why of the situation, If you hit a ref you get suspended and fined. Sorry.

Aside from that, it wasn't just a body check to side step someone, it was a pretty vicious cross check with the stick to the head neck area, into the boards from behind. Even if that were a preds player and not a ref, I would be considering that for suspension as well.

People make stupid decisions in the spur of the moment sometimes and when they do, they have to be held accountable.

Wideman will and should get a pretty hefty suspension and fine for what he did.

[cprice12]

Yeah. I've enjoyed watching Wideman play just as much as anybody since he came into the NHL and granted he has no history and doesn't seem to be that sort of player but two thing remain. He crosschecked a ref. period. end of discussion. If I'm the NHL, I set a precedent that no matter what the why of the situation, If you hit a ref you get suspended and fined. Sorry.

Aside from that, it wasn't just a body check to side step someone, it was a pretty vicious cross check with the stick to the head neck area, into the boards from behind. Even if that were a preds player and not a ref, I would be considering that for suspension as well.

People make stupid decisions in the spur of the moment sometimes and when they do, they have to be held accountable.

Wideman will and should get a pretty hefty suspension and fine for what he did.

And he may very well get a hefty suspension for simply hitting a ref either to be made an example of or to protect the refs no matter what.

But my stance is that it wasn't malicious, he didn't see the official until the last second, and the crosscheck was more him trying to brace for impact and get out of the way than anything else. The fact that he was in pain, possibly woozy, and just wanted to get off the ice plays a large role in that.
I think the thought that it was premeditated and he made a bee line right for the official with the intent to check him, is just simply inaccurate.

[glen a richter]

I don't think it was intentional, given that he was probably in a fog after his hit, but the rule is pretty clear. If we start judging whether someone intended to injure or not, you could take that argument anywhere. Did a drunk person intend to kill someone when they got behind the wheel? Probably not because they were too drunk to realize what they were doing. So if they didn't realize what they did, they should get a lighter sentence? Wideman should be suspended the full 20. Though it may very well be that he had no intention to injure the official, it is what it is. Not suspending him opens up a whole can of excuses for everyone else.

[goon attack]

He clearly wasn't in his right mind, intentional or not.

I think he gets 12-15 games just because.

Fact is, we don't know what happened, nor will we ever.

Those who think it was intentional are pretty sure of one thing though: Wideman is a bald-faced liar. Pretty hefty charge to lay on a guy if you ask me.

And the point has been made already: why on earth would he do this? It makes no sense whatsoever.

I think he was just a little confused, and hit the first body that came close enough, not really realizing it was a linesman.

[JCShutout]

As someone who has had his bell rung in a game and was woozy, I can say that you are barely aware of what is around you, and the game is moving much faster than you can really handle at the time, and it is easy to bump into players/refs. Based on the last second attempt at changing direction, I'll say this was accidental or at least inconclusive.

He should still get a few games, just to ensure things like this don't start happening on purpose. Just in case. But personally I believe Wideman's story.

[ecbm]

No, his head WAS down at first.

OK, to make this clear-yes, his head is down immediately after the hit. He certainly got hit hard. In the youtube video though, his head is up from the 4 second mark. He makes contact with the ref at 8 seconds. His original defense can't work because it's contradicted by video evidence. It's absolutely obvious and incontrovertible.

I don't know if you have ever played hockey before

I have played, thanks. I've never been hit like that. I did get a couple of concussions playing football. It makes everything hazy, slow-moving and you don't take in or process sensory stimuli as quickly as normal. That may well be in play here but it's not what he said.

You can be knocked woozy and not have a concussion.

True, but I don't think it's really possible to be hit so hard that you don't recognize the one guy on the ice in a different color shirt (or didn't see that guy in front of you at all?) without getting a concussion. Again, if he were hit so hard that he generally had no awareness of what was going on around him he certainly shouldn't have gone back into the game.

[cprice12]

No, his head WAS down at first.

OK, to make this clear-yes, his head is down immediately after the hit. He certainly got hit hard. In the youtube video though, his head is up from the 4 second mark. He makes contact with the ref at 8 seconds. His original defense can't work because it's contradicted by video evidence. It's absolutely obvious and incontrovertible.

As I said before, just because his head is up before the hit, doesn't mean he was looking at the official. His eyes could have been looking down, left or right or they could have even been closed for crying out loud...not likely, but still, it's anything but "absolutely obvious and incontrovertible" like you said, because you can't see his eyes.

I think it's pretty obvious based on his reaction immediately before impact that he didn't see the official until the last second. And at the very least, makes his story believable.

You can be knocked woozy and not have a concussion.

True, but I don't think it's really possible to be hit so hard that you don't recognize the one guy on the ice in a different color shirt (or didn't see that guy in front of you at all?) without getting a concussion. Again, if he were hit so hard that he generally had no awareness of what was going on around him he certainly shouldn't have gone back into the game.

I'm not even sure that was part of it or not. But it could have been.
My stance is that he didn't notice the official until the last second. It was obvious that he was in a good amount of pain (he said as much), and he could have been out of it for a few seconds. And I'm not even saying he mistook the official for another player, but what I am saying is plausible is that he didn't see the official and then all of a sudden saw a body in front of him and tried to sidestep while getting his hands up protect himself. He may not have had time to analyze who it was as he didn't see him until the last second. He's just focusing on getting off the ice after having his bell rung and then jumped into self defense mode.

To be so sure that he saw and identified the official for 4 seconds prior to hitting him, is making a pretty damning accusation, essentially saying that Wideman seeked out and attacked an NHL official in front of 15,000 fans, a dozen cameras and a television audience, for no reason whatsoever. And this is something that is completely out of character for him and something that he knows would get him in a ton of trouble, that would hurt his team and his career. To be that sure that you know exactly what he saw and what he was doing and what he was thinking when the only camera view we have to go by is behind him where you can't see his eyes or what he is actually looking at, (if anything) ...is quite the stretch and you are really just fabricating evidence to fill in the gaps in your argument. It quite frankly just doesn't make any sense.

I'm not saying he won't get suspended. The more I think about it, the more I can see the NHL suspending him for a dozen games or so, to make a statement about protecting the officials...even if they felt the hit was incidental contact. They could just say the fact that he extends his arms after hitting the official means he went over the line.

[cprice12]

This is almost exactly how I interpreted it as well.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericmacrama ... b0dc87902f

Calgary Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman absolutely leveled linesman Don Henderson when he hit him from behind during a game against the Nashville Predators. It wasn’t pretty and many are calling for his suspension.

After the game. Wideman denied he intended to hit Henderson.

“I was just trying to get off the ice. And, at the last second, I looked up and saw him,” said Wideman after the game. “I couldn’t avoid it. I didn’t know where to go or how to get out of the way of him.”

Wideman also apologized to Henderson on the ice.

So is there enough here for a suspension? While at first glance it doesn’t look good, it would be a surprise to see Wideman suspended. The circumstances are such that Wideman’s account of the incident makes sense.

NHL Rule 40.2: Deliberate Contact + Intent To Injure

Rule 40.2 of the NHL rulebook provides that a player will be suspended a minimum of 20 games if he “deliberately strikes an official and causes injury or who deliberately applies physical force in any manner against an official with intent to injure, or who in any manner attempts to injure an official”.

That same rules goes on to explain that “intent to injure” means applying physical force a player knew or ought to have known could reasonably result in injury.

So in order to be suspended at least 20 games, Wideman must have formed the requisite intent to hit Henderson and also intended to injure him.

Wideman was laboring to get back to the bench after being hit hard with his head apparently hitting the boards. As Wideman skated to his bench, Henderson was skating backwards to around the same spot. It could be reasonably be argued that when Wideman finally noticed Henderson at the last moment (while shaking off the big hit), he tried to avoid Henderson at the last moment by veering right while putting up his hands to protect himself. Before the collision, you can see Wideman signal for a line change with his stick, then drop his head in visible discomfort. When he pops his head back up, there’s Henderson. What followed was an unintended consequence, namely, a collision.

This suggests that Wideman did not intend to hit Henderson, and by extension could not have formed the requisite intent to injure him.

So it’s a tough argument to make that Wideman could be suspended under Rule 40.2. Intent to injure and deliberate contact seem to be missing, which is fatal to the application of Rule 40.2.

Henderson is a linesman and not a referee. So the argument that the hit was retribution for a missed call is a bit strained.

Assuming you buy that Wideman only saw Henderson at the very last moment, the key issue will be whether the force he used was appropriate and lacking intent and deliberation.

NHL Rule 40.3: Deliberate Contact But No Intent To Injure

Rule 40.3 includes a lower standard and provides for a minimum 10 game suspension if a player deliberately makes contact with a referee without intending to injure him.

Once again, a good interpretation of the events is that Wideman did not intend to hit Henderson; rather he was trying to avoid him.

So Wideman shouldn’t be captured by Rule 40.3 since there was no deliberate contact.

As this is an issue of interpretation, there will predictably be two camps on this. Overall, though, it would be a surprise to see Wideman suspended for what amounts to an accident. And any uncertainty will be resolved in favor of Wideman, who gets the benefit the doubt given his reputation.

Eric is a partner at a national law firm. He is the sports legal analyst for TSN and contributes to CBS, NBC, ESPN and Sirius XM. Eric is the host of the weekly TSN radio show Offside.

[ecbm]

As I said before, just because his head is up before the hit, doesn't mean he was looking at the official. His eyes could have been looking down, left or right or they could have even been closed for crying out loud...

You're a lawyer, aren't you?

[cprice12]

As I said before, just because his head is up before the hit, doesn't mean he was looking at the official. His eyes could have been looking down, left or right or they could have even been closed for crying out loud...

You're a lawyer, aren't you?

Nope. That's another person's job on here though.

[cardsfan04]

He got 20 games. I think it's bullshit.

[abc789987]

I'm not surprised he's getting 20... But I'm sure he'll appeal it if he can.

[ecbm]

He got 20 games. I think it's bullshit.

I'm not surprised he's getting 20... But I'm sure he'll appeal it if he can.

Easy to be torn over this. He's never shown himself to be a dirty player and I really can't see what his motivation would be...on the other hand, I heard no believable defense of his actions offered.