March 16, 2011
SHARKS PAGESHARKS VIDEO
Ray Ratto
CSNBayArea.com
Dany Heatley chose the wrong place to throw his elbow -- Steve Otts head.
He also chose the wrong time -- coinciding with the general managers Florida meeting on head shots.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
But not the worst time. When people expected NHL hall monitor Colin Campbell to come down on Heatley with both feet, he instead threw a sandal at him -- a two-game suspension for rest, rejuvenatation and reflection on the values of timing and aim.
Well, aim, anyway.
Heatleys contribution in San Joses contentious 6-3 win over Dallas Tuesday was in retaliation for Otts years of sketchy hits and his challenge to Douglas Murray, who had hit the slight but dangerous Dallas forward Loui Eriksson. That, and the teams prior relationship in the same division, all added to Heatleys decision to send a message at precisely the worst possible time -- when the league is trying to alter its history on head injuries.
Educated guesses ran from two to five games of suspension time, with three as the midpoint with the most precedent, most recently handed to New Jerseys Anton Volchenkovs hit on Zach Boychuk and Tampa Bays Pavel Kubina for his elbow of Chicagos Dave Bolland.
News
Most folks erred on the high side, assuming that Campbell would take the general managers meeting as a puff of white smoke from the roof of the Sistine Chapel. And most folks were wrong.
Heatley got the news in a hearing with general manager Doug Wilson, an NHLPA representative and Campbell, and probably pretended not to be happy. Then again, he didnt have to look too sad, given that the holes still exist in the NHLs disciplinary code were still very much in evidence, despite the firestorm that accompanied Zdeno Charas non-suspension after running Montreals Max Pacioretty into the stanchion at the Bell Centre two weeks ago. That one still incites fevered debate.
This one didnt, and Heatley will now be absented from the games against Minnesota and St. Louis, but back for Calgary at home, and then the final interdivisional stretch, at Los Angeles and Phoenix, and most deliciously of all, hosting Dallas on March 31. One can expect a quiet and dignified affair, especially so with playoff spots still at stake.
By then, everyone should have figured what is and isnt allowable. Depending on time, place, officials, and the value of the head in question. But for now, Dany Heatley can breathe a sigh of relief. At a time when the NHL said it would crack down on head shots, it decided to hold the crackdown another day.
Ray Ratto is a columnist for CSNBayArea.com.