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Rasmus Ristolainen Deserved Suspension – Now Here Is The But

By Richard Spalding |
Mar 14, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (55) during the first period of the game against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at San Jose. The San Jose Sharks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 14, 2017; San Jose, CA, USA; Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen (55) during the first period of the game against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at San Jose. The San Jose Sharks defeated the Buffalo Sabres 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports

The NHL Department of Player Safety may have gotten the suspension of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen right, but there is a good reason why fans are upset.

When the NHL Department of Player Safety announced Thursday afternoon that it had decided to suspend Buffalo Sabres blueliner Rasmus Ristolainen three games for his hit on Pittsburgh’s Jake Guentzel, I was okay with the call.

You can argue that two games is more appropriate, but let’s not argue over something that minor: three games is only one more than two, the last time I checked, so that extra game does not make this suspension draconian.  Clearly, the hit deserved more than one game, and since I envisioned a scenario in which the NHL DPOS went as high as five games, I’m not going to complain about three.

Especially since losing Risto increases Buffalo’s odds of losing the next three games, something I am all for at this point of the season!

I don’t agree with Sabres fans who say that Ristolainen should not have been suspended – it was a dangerous play, one that he could have avoided, so case closed there – but I fully agree with Sabres fans who get the suspension, and still have a beef with the NHL DPOS.

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For starters, the NHL DPOS literally makes up punishments as they go.  There is no pre-defined criteria for certain penalties – for example, making boarding a minimum two-game suspension.  Because there is no pre-defined minimum punishment, the NHL DPOS just gets to throw darts at a board to determine the number of games a player gets suspended – here, you get one!  But this guy gets three, because – well, because!  When fans look around the league and see that their guy got a longer suspension than someone who committed essentially the same penalty, of course those fans get pissed.  It’s all too arbitrary.  I understand that the severity of an infraction has to be taken into account (although in my opinion, injury should NOT), but the NHL DPOS needs to establish a baseline: charging is a minimum two-game suspension, while an illegal hit to the hit is a minimum three-game suspension (for example) -always.  If the DPOS did that, most (not all) of these suspensions would even out, and fans would not have to ask the question, “Why did this guy get two while we got three?”

Having these minimum suspensions in place would also alleviate a lot of fan anxiety, which is another part of the reason fans get angry: when Sabres fans heard that Risto would be having a conference with the DPOS, I’m sure many of them were hoping Risto would get off with just a warning.  Had a minimum suspension been in place, fans would have automatically understood that Risto would be getting suspended, without a doubt.

But even with some sort of pre-established rules for suspending players in place, the DPOS will never make fans happy until they stop picking and choosing which players and teams to punish.   I guarantee you most Buffalo Sabres players would be okay with Ristolainen getting suspended for his hit on Jake Guentzel if every dangerous and/or dirty hit in the NHL was punished by the DPOS . . . but when you watch a hit like this go completely unpunished – no penalty, no fine, no suspension, NOTHING – then you have to start asking the question, “Why did the NHL single out our guy?”

That was a dangerous hit that Josh Manson delivered, especially when you consider the fact that he had time to line Reilly Smith up and deliver the blow.  Yet, it went entirely unpunished.  Why?  Your guess is as good as mine.  I like the Anaheim Ducks, and I don’t think Manson is a dirty player – but that was a head shot, clear as day.  The fact that Smith popped up shouldn’t mean a damn thing – if you allow an NHL player to get away with illegal plays, he will do it again, plain and simple.

Speaking of getting away with illegal plays, one game after doing this to Buffalo’s Ryan O’Reilly –

NHL darling Sidney Crosby used his stick illegally again, this time against Ottawa’s Marc Methot, with these results:

Two illegal plays, at least one of which was intentionally dirty – and nothing happened to Crosby.  Hmmmm.

And even though he has been suspended a few times for the NHL DPOS, for some reason, Brad Marchand still manages to pull punk-ass moves like this slew-foot against an unsuspecting Niklas Kronwall without getting suspended (he was fined – I bet that will teach him):

At some point, the NHL DPOS needs to get rid of a dirty player like Marchand; instead, they completely ignored his history (just go to You Tube and do a search for Marchand slew foot – his body of work in this regard alone is impressive) and allowed him to play in Boston’s very next game.

Unbelievable.

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In the case of Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen, the NHL Department of Player Safety dished out a fair and appropriate suspension – but since they miss or completely ignore so many other illegal hits, it’s fair to wonder why they decided not to ignore Risto’s hit. Until the DPOS becomes consistent and stops making up the rules as they go, fans will continue to cry foul when they lose a star player to suspension.

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