Buffalo Sabres Continue To Be Treated Like Trash By NHL DPOS

What happens when a repeat offender commits a dangerous penalty against the Buffalo Sabres?  He gets away with it, of course!

The Buffalo Sabres opened their 2016-17 season by getting their asses handed to them, 4-1, courtesy of the Montreal Canadiens.

Worse, the Sabres lost forward Evander Kane to injury after he hit the boards hard in the second period.  Kane was taken off the ice on a stretcher, was brought to a local hospital, and his status is still very much up in the air to you and me.

With Jack Eichel and Kyle Okposo already out of the lineup, the Sabres certainly didn’t want to see Kane go down . . . but imagine how much worse the mood in the 716 would have been this morning had Johan Larsson suffered an injury after he was slew-footed by Montreal’s Andrew Shaw.

Fortunately, the NHL Department of Player Safety took care of Shaw, who is after all a repeat offender and . . . wait.  What the ****?  You mean the DPOS decided to do NOTHING about such an obvious, dangerous incident that occurred at the very end of a game that Montreal had in the bag?

For crying out loud.

Shaw was given a match penalty for his cowardly antics, which resulted in his being suspended until the league gave him further notice . . . which they did today, meaning he will miss exactly ZERO minutes of hockey as a result.

Meanwhile, as per NBC Sports, Shaw has developed quite a classy reputation for himself:

"Shaw is certainly pushing his luck when it comes to suspensions.He’s already been dinged three games for boarding Washington’s Connor Hobbsduring the preseason and, prior to that, was suspended for making a homophobic slur during an opening-round playoff loss to St. Louis in the spring (as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks).And prior to that:— Avoided suspension for a high hit on Francois Beauchemin.— Allegedly bit Victor Hedman during the ’15 Stanley Cup Final.— Was fined $2,000 for diving.— Avoided suspension for charging Barret Jackman.— Avoided suspension for headbutting Brock Nelson."

And this is all from just 2015 on, people.  How times will the league allow this guy to avoid suspension, when he is clearly playing reckless hockey that is going to get players injured?

Well clearly, if he continues to take cheap shots against players on the Buffalo Sabres, the answer is, Shaw can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants.

I don’t enjoy complaining about what I perceive to be unfair treatment . . . but there have been enough times that the Buffalo Sabres absolutely got shafted by the NHL and the NHL DPOS.  The Milan Lucic hit on Ryan Miller is probably the most notorious example of the NHL DPOS signaling that Sabres players are fair game for just about anything, but there have been other examples.  I didn’t think the DPOS was supposed to hand out suspensions based on which teams it likes, and which teams it looks down its nose at – seems like the DPOS should protect all players, equally.

Like that has ever been the case.

Next: Sabres Need Robin Lehner To Step Up More Than Ever

It certainly comes as no surprise that Andrew Shaw got away with such a blatantly dangerous move against the Buffalo Sabres, but that doesn’t mean Sabres fans need to be okay with how the NHL DPOS treats the team.  Hop on Twitter and let the DPOS know what you think – it may not get results, but speaking from experience, you’ll feel better that you got it off your chest!