PuckToons: NHL Takes a Stand on One Gender Issue

Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.

Gender issues in sports is always a difficult topic, so I'm largely going to let the PuckToon speak for itself today. Still, it will be interesting to see what emerges from today's suspension meeting between the Dallas Stars' Sean Avery and NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman regarding Avery's vague-but-crude remarks about former love interest Elisha Cuthbert and Calgary Flames' defenseman Dion Phaneuf.

There's of course plenty of issues to consider with this suspension: Is it right for the NHL to legislate morality? How messed up is it that the NHL could suspend an off-ice comment longer than any of its on-ice offenses of the past few years? How much responsibility does the NHL have for creating Avery the media monster? How much will the NHL help the Dallas Stars in wiggling out of their four-year contract obligation?

As usual, I'm just here to poke fun at the issues without providing too much in the way of discussion or resolution, but feel free to share your suspension reaction in the comments.