The NHL Department of Player Safety’s collective gavel came down on Duncan Keith earlier this evening. It was late in the afternoon for those out on the West Coast, but the weekend was well underway for those living on the East Coast. It’s a tactic that the league usually uses when they know news they have to release will be unpopular.
Much will be made about the length (or lack thereof) of Keith’s suspension. The NHL DOPS handed him a six-game break–including one playoff game–for slashing Minnesota Wild forward Charlie Coyle across the face with purpose.
Chicago’s Duncan Keith suspended six games for high sticking on Minnesota’s Charlie Coyle. https://t.co/VQFcAr6NWg
— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) April 1, 2016
The verbiage used in the explanation video is strong and unforgiving. The league makes it clear that Keith made this play intentionally, with intent to injure Coyle. They might as well have had AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” playing in the background.
“While on his back, Keith looks at Coyle, winds his arm back, then slashes his stick dangerously and violently directly into the face of Coyle.”
That’s the official language that the league took up with one of their marquee defenseman. If you’ve been paying even a little bit of attention to how social media has responded to this incident, you’ll be familiar with this common refrain from fans.
Duncan Keith only gets 6 games for slashing someone in the face? If Marchand did that? 15 games.
— Trent S. (@TrentSouth) April 2, 2016
Or…
If repeat offender Duncan Keith wasn't a top player on a media darling team, I'd guess he would've got 10+ games.
— Sam I Am (@SeahawkSammy) April 2, 2016
Or even…
I bet anybody not named Duncan Keith who isn't also a star gets like 10 games for that, so good on him for being Duncan Keith too
— Joe C. (@DatJoeFrank) April 2, 2016
Maybe these fine folks are right. Maybe if a player like Brad Marchand–a guy with a reputation–had pulled a similar stunt, the NHL would have thrown the book at him. That’s what some people were expecting the league to do in this particular instance, what with Keith’s lengthy history of cheap shots and stick swings.
Here’s the thing though. The high-end defenseman is 32 and has several years left in the tank. He’s lost a step, but he’s still one of the better defenders in professional hockey. For the rest of his time with the Chicago Blackhawks, Keith will have to carry the scarlet letter of “repeat offender” around his neck.
In their explanation video, the league goes as far as to show the nasty slash that Keith gave to L.A. Kings forward Jeff Carter during the 2013 Western Conference Final. Perhaps this looks familiar to Wild fans.
This is the league’s subtle way of letting everyone know that Keith is now a marked man in the eyes of the DOPS. There’s no difference between the suspensions that the defender has had compared to the things that someone like Raffi Torres has done. Not in the eyes of the league, anyway. Torres got off light a handful of times for his garbage plays, but he ran out of rope eventually.
He was first suspended in 2011 for a headshot on Jordan Eberle. At that point the league was actually trying to make it look like they cared about things like player safety, so Torres got four games for that hit. He got two games for his next hit to the head in 2012, and at that point it also seemed like he got off light.
Guess what happened the third time Torres went to try to turn someone’s lights out though? After destroying Marian Hossa of the Blackhawks during the playoffs in 2012, Torres was handed a whopping 25-game suspension from the NHL. The forward was able to have that reduced to 21 contests, but the message was still loud and clear.
That’s a long time to sit without pay, and Keith is now out of rope. No and, if or but about it.
Whether we like it or not, the league has settled into a bit of a pattern since establishing the department of player safety. You’ll get off a bit easy the first time. They’ll even show you a bit of leniency the second time. The NHL season is long and things happen. Hockey is an emotional game and all that.
Commit the same savage foul three times though? You’re going to be sitting for a long time.
This is the line that Keith will now have to walk for the remainder of his career. Be it two more years or seven, he has fairly earned the reputation as a hot head with a short fuse. We’ve seen him go over the edge of more than one occasion, and now the league has set him up to fall big time, should he slip up again.
It may not feel like enough right this second because as sports fans we love instant gratification. The decisive overtime goal suddenly punching through from the blue line. A wicked out-of-nowhere series of right hands ending a professional fight. We’re wired to get what we want when we want it.
In this case, most fans outside of Chicago seem to feel that Keith got off a bit light. That may be the case. But he now carries with him a real and true history of violence. One that the NHL has openly spoken about and not shied away from. He’ll be back for Chicago for Game Two of the first round of the playoffs with a wallet that is $148,883.35 lighter than it would have been otherwise. The next time he proves to be uncontrollable and savage, the league is going to come down on him, and hard.
It’s not instant, and it doesn’t look great for the NHL to kick the can down the street just a bit farther. But if we’ve learned anything from history, we know that savage players don’t change overnight or in response to one or two suspensions. If Keith never hurts anyone ever again, then this suspension did the trick.
If he does? That’s going to be one quick harsh phone call with the DOPS.
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