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Host, TSN The Reporters with Dave Hodge

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Let me list several things that pertain to the Dennis Wideman suspension and suggest that everyone should be able to agree, as follows:

The Calgary Flames’ defenceman had an exemplary record of behaviour prior to the night of January 27th. He’s a good guy. He had no reason to hurt Don Henderson and so it never entered his mind to seek out the linesman and slam him to the ice forcefully with a hit from behind. It was very possible that Wideman was suffering, in known or unknown ways, from a check he himself received seconds earlier.

Never mind who felled Henderson or why it happened, the NHL could not let a violent act that victimized an on-ice official go unpunished. As for the proper penalty, the NHL was not in a position to deviate in any way from the protection its rulebook provides to refs and linesmen.

It might be natural for a neutral arbitrator to issue a compromise ruling, and it would be helpful if both sides could accept it, but that’s not likely. When they watch the incident, Wideman, the Calgary Flames and the NHLPA see only an unintentional accident. The NHL sees a player approach an official from behind, make no attempt to avoid him and then turn and knock him to the ice, in clear violation of rule 40.2.

“Thumbs up” if there’s a way to work with both versions. Rather, I think it has to be one or the other. And the one that deals with what happened offers the solid backing for a ruling. The question of why it happened doesn’t.

The NHL has every right to expect that Wideman’s 20-game suspension will be served in full.

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I draw your attention to the bottom of the NHL standings, where six teams are tied for 30th place. An optimist would say they’re tied for 25th place, but proponents of the art of “tanking” view it differently. And they think the race to the cellar is more important than what’s happening at the top of the league table.

For the record, and starting with number 30, the worst teams are listed in the following order: Columbus, Edmonton, Buffalo, Winnipeg, Toronto and Calgary. All with 47 points, but arranged that way according to games played, and games won in regulation time or overtime.

It’s hard to give odds on the final finish, but “tank talk” is most prevalent in Toronto, where many fans of the Maple Leafs are hoping as many as eight players are traded with none being added. For most of this season, a last-place finish and favourable lottery luck has seemed the best Columbus fans could hope for. Jackets’ coach John Tortorella might prefer more broken ribs to that outcome, but there’s only so much he can do to prevent it.

Winnipeg has entered “tank territory’ with a flourish. Calgary was hoping to leave it, but last night’s loss to Columbus created the six-team logjam. And that brings this upside-down look at the NHL standings to the teams that drafted 1-2 last year. Edmonton fans have surely had enough of number-one draft picks and are cheering Connor McDavid and the Oilers on to victory these days. So, yes, McDavid may be the biggest reason that six teams are tied instead of five being in front of Edmonton. Or behind, if you prefer.

Buffalo fans think Jack Eichel was worth last season’s emptiness, so they’ll be quite okay with another like him.

I will suggest that if all six teams try as hard as they can to finish no worse than 25th, the Flames, Leafs, Jets, Oilers and Sabres will miss out on the most favourable lottery odds that wind up belonging to the Blue Jackets.

“Thumbs up” if I’m right, because it’s tough to put six teams in the correct order if you’re not certain where they’d like to finish.