NEW YORK – Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman has been suspended for 
20 games, without pay, for conduct violative of Rule 40 (Physical Abuse of Officials) during NHL Game No. 742 in Calgary on Wednesday, Jan. 27, the National Hockey League announced today.
The incident occurred at 11:19 of the second period.
Under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, Wideman will forfeit $564,516.20. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
The incomprehensible part of the story is the defense that Wideman has enjoyed from some quarters.
Contact with officials in any professional sport is an inviolate protection afforded the games’ referees, umpires, linesmen, and off-ice officials.
Purposeful of not, the video of Wideman’s cross check on linesman Don Henderson is clear in the role Wideman played in the encounter.
Wideman’s reaction to the contact was also of some concern and any defensible position evaporates in the wind as he calmly skates to the bench after the collision and fall of the linesman.
That Wideman received a 20-game suspension is seemingly a slap on the wrist the collision to unsuspecting and ill-prepared non-player.
The NHL has not released a video discussion of the collision or its decision and there may be more information forthcoming.
But in the meantime, the NHL has made a half-hearted decision on its protection of the officiating corps it relies on to keep the games under control.
The loss of more than half-million dollars in wages will hurt but the call for an indefinite suspension was not out of line.
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