Brendan Witt Suspended 5 Games

On Thursday night, New York Islanders defenseman Brendan Witt was handed a five-minute major and a 10-minute game misconduct for elbowing Maple Leafs forward Niklas Hagman.

On Friday, the NHL reacted by suspending Witt for five games. According to NHL.com, the suspension will cost him $74,372.75 in salary. His first game back from the suspension is scheduled to be March 10 ... against Toronto.


As usual, it appears as if the NHL has simply thrown darts at random numbers on a wall to determine its punishments, as five games seems like a light punishment for knocking out Hagman with such a brutal hit.

The NHL claims it's trying to cut down on these types of hits, yet Witt only gets five games for delivering a dangerous elbow to the head, while a player such as Sean Avery gets suspended six games for making a sex joke (we'll continue to beat this dead horse as long as the NHL allows us by making ridiculous decisions like this).

Colin Campbell and Gary Bettman continue to send the message that it's far more serious to not have a filter between your brain and your mouth (Avery), than it is to potentially end a player's season or career. Doesn't make sense.