Colorado Avalanche-Style Reaction to Austin Watson Suspension

Colorado Avalanche rival, Nashville Predators right wing Austin Watson, brings the domestic violence topic to the forefront of the NHL.

One of Colorado Avalanche’s rival players, Nashville Predators right wing Austin Watson, has been suspended 27 games plus the preseason without pay. The suspension is a reaction by the NHL to an altercation Watson had with his girlfriend.

According to CBS Sports and other sites, Watson was arrested on domestic abuse charges after a witness called the police in response to his “swatting” her. He also admits to pushing her. When the police asked about red marks on her chest, she claims he was responsible. She also had a bruised and bloody shin, though this has not been directly attributed to Watson.

Austin Watson pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of domestic assault last month. According the CBS, he can have the charge dismissed if he completes three years of probation as well as an in-patient treatment program and a batterer’s intervention program.

Then, as stated above, the NHL meted out further justice with the suspension. Commissioner Gary Bettman said of the suspension:

"“I have determined that Nashville player Austin Watson engaged in a physical confrontation with his domestic partner. Today’s ruling, while tailored to the specific facts of the case and the individuals involved, is necessary and consistent with the NHL’s strongly held view that it cannot and will not tolerate this and similar types of conduct.”"

Some people think 27 games was not enough. I’m cynical about how these cases go, though. I honestly didn’t think the NHL would do anything. The fact that they suspended him so many games feels at least a little ok with me.

It also makes me feel hopeful in the Slava Voynov case. Voynov perpetrated far worse on his wife and skipped out on the “batterer’s intervention program” portion of his sentence by returning to Russia, where laws on domestic abuse are far more lax. (Read more here.)

If Watson got 27 games for “just” swatting and pushing his girlfriend, plus causing red marks on her chest, Voynov should get a lot more for choking his wife out and shoving her face into a television, thus necessitating medical intervention.

Honestly, if the NHL had given Watson 5 games and Voynov 27, I wouldn’t have been surprised. No, really, maybe old Bettman ain’t so bad after all.

That said, something did stick the knife in my positivity. Per Pierre LeBrun, the NHL Players’ Association released a statement that they will be filing an appeal on behalf of Watson.The case will be heard by an impartial arbitrator.

Excuse me? The NHL finally gets one right, and the NHLPA tries to make it wrong again?

And here’s where my response goes into Colorado Avalanche-land. The NHLPA will file an appeal on behalf of a player who admits to domestic violence but lets specific players be targeted by the Department of Player Safety? They would rather spend their resources on a domestic abuser than one who received an overly-long suspension that seems to go counter to the DoPS’s own rules of determining guilt and meting out punishment?

I’m thinking of the four-game suspension Gabriel Landeskog received for crosschecking Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk. Now, I acknowledge four games is a lot less than 27. I also acknowledge that crosschecking is dangerous, especially since the stick hit Tkachuk’s head.

However, Tkachuk was dressed in full pads and wearing a helmet and was willingly involved in an on-ice scrum behind the net. That’s vastly different than Watson’s girlfriend, who is about half his weight and probably 1/10th of his strength — and was not wearing protective gear.

I’m not saying Landeskog didn’t deserve any supplemental discipline, just that the DoPS handed down too-strong of a sentence because they used previous history as an indicator — that’s counter to the rules of the CBA, which state Landeskog was out of that time period.

Why didn’t the NHLPA step in then? The NHL shamefully doesn’t have any specific policy regarding domestic violence. Therefore, the league can’t have violated it. The NHLPA should allow the league to take a hard stance on this issue.

More from Mile High Sticking

Ok, if you think using the Landeskog example is a little petty, consider this. Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt has been suspended 20 games because he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Seems pretty cut and dried because it violates the NHL/ NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.

Here’s the kicker: The amount was 7 billionths of a milligram/mL, “the equivalent of a pinch of salt in an Olympic-sized swimming pool.” That amount is consistent with environmental contamination, say eating a contaminated steak.

Here’s the bigger kicker: The NHLPA isn’t filing an appeal on Schmidt’s behalf. Here’s a player who legitimately has a case that he’s been wrongly suspended, and the NHLPA is silent.

So, again, why are they so willing to step in on behalf of a man who physically abused a woman? Is it because cross-checking a fellow player and testing positive for PEDs is somehow more wrong than harming women?

That’s a bad look for the Players’ Association.

Next. Excitement of the Avs Top Line. dark

It’s tricky bringing up this topic in relation to the Colorado Avalanche. Two goalies in our organization have been accused of domestic violence. Neither was convicted, and neither received a suspension.

I’m not going to open that can of worms in this post except to say maybe they should have been suspended by the NHL. And maybe the NHL needs to finally develop a solid policy regarding domestic violence perpetrated by its players.

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