Sitting Duck

Well, well, well, it looks like Chris Pronger has been suspended after all. The NHL brass has handed him an - wait for it - eight game suspension for stomping on Ryan Kesler's leg.

Wow. Can somebody say double standard?

On the one hand, you could say that at least the NHL did something, but isn't 8 games a little light considering what they gave Chris Simon? Hmm...8 games vs. 30 games. No wonder Simon is angry.

Sure, the situations are a little different. The Simon/Ruutu incident happened at the bench and Simon basically knocked Ruutu to the ice and stomped on his foot. The Pronger/Kesler incident happened on the ice after Kesler fell to the ice and Pronger stomped on his leg. The common factors here are that (1) both are dirty players and (2) both stomped on their victims leg.

I wanted to see Pronger gone for at least the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs, but he'll be back for the last game of the season.

I wonder, did the NHL not suspend Pronger for any longer because they think of him as a superstar that should be with his team as they enter the post-season? Did Burke call up Campbell and say, "Don't you dare take away our captain for the playoffs!!!"

Think about it. How many people are looking at the Ducks and saying that they could repeat as champions? How many new fans does Anaheim have? How many people like the rough and tough game that the Ducks play?

Meanwhile, you have players like Chris Simon looking at the situation and wondering why he was treated so harshly for basically the same incident. Was it because he has less talent? Or is it something deeper...I don't think you could blame Simon for wondering if racism was involved.

People always talk about karma, that 'what goes around, comes around,' but will it ever come around for Pronger?

Who's a dirtier player than Chris Simon?

My vote goes to Chris Pronger of the Anaheim Ducks.

In case you have been living under a rock, or you just didn't watch SportsCentre, Pronger stomped on Ryan Kesler's leg in Wednesday night's game against the Vancouver Canucks. It was very reminiscent of Chris Simon's stomp on Jarkko Ruutu's leg in December, except there is one teeny, tiny, microscopic difference.

Simon was suspended for 30 games. Pronger gets nothing.

Now, when I look at the video of the incident, I see Pronger look down at Kesler and try to stomp on Kesler's leg twice, catching him the second time. There is a point where Pronger's skate makes contact with Kesler's calf, lingers there, and then pushes it away as he skates off.



If you look carefully, Pronger is looking down towards the ice. He's not looking down the ice. His attention is directed towards his feet, or very close to them, so he must have known that Kesler's leg was there. Some argue that he was simply trying to untangle himself, but I don't believe it.

Now, the reason why I say that Pronger is dirtier than Simon is because of his 'superstar' status in the NHL. He is one of the best defencemen in the League and he is a future Hall of Famer. Simon is not - not in the least. While Pronger has a reputation of being dirty, with 7 suspensions to his name (including 2 during last year's playoffs), he will not receive the same type of scrutiny that Simon faces and he will not receive the same punishment.

Is there a chance that Pronger will not 'think twice' next time because the consequences are minimal? Yeah.

Will Pronger be given chance after chance after 245th chance simply because of his status? Will coaches, GMs, officials, and the NHL turn a blind eye because, at the end of the day, Pronger is a superstar who sells tickets? For sure, and because of that, more players will be hurt due to his absolute lack of respect.

After the Simon incident in December, we all wondered what would happen if 'a Chris Pronger' had done something like that.

Well, now we know what would happen.

Nothing.

I think the only way the NHL would care would be if the victim was not Kesler, but rather one of the biggest names in the game, someone bigger than Pronger - like Crosby or Ovechkin. But it shouldn't be that way.

The NHL has decided that they will not suspend Pronger, but I say we raise hell and call for a suspension anyway. They probably won't do it, but in light of the recent video that shows the incident more clearly (the one above, which was not made available until last night - after the NHL's ruling), perhaps the League will pay more attention to Pronger's activities on the ice and act accordingly the next time something like this happens, and believe me, it will happen.