Derian Hatcher still suspended for elbow.

Former Red Wing Derian Hatcher will have to sit out three games for his vicious elbow to the jaw of Calgary's Matthew Lombardi during the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs. This Philadelphia Inquirer article¹ reports that his three game suspension is going to be enforced this year, his first season with the Flyers.
The punishment wasn't handed down until a week after Hatcher and the Red Wings had already been eliminated from the 2004 Western Conference playoffs. Hatcher was under the impression that under the old CBA, the league had to hand down suspensions within 48 hours of the offense. Thus, he thinks the suspension was illegal in the first place. The league and the NHLPA both deny that such terms existed in the old CBA. A grievance by a player without support from the NHLPA? Doesn't look good

Said Hatcher: "What, they think I just made this stuff up? I saw it. It said 48 hours."

Yeah, Derian. That's pretty much the gist of it. You're making this stuff up.

Hatcher continued to "make stuff up", stating that he thought the suspension was going to be pro rated.

"Second, if there was a lockout, the suspension was prorated," he said. "If I came back last year, it would have been prorated. So, let's say we missed 50 games. I would have missed one game. If [the season] was canceled, the whole thing was supposed to be a wash. That is what I was told" in Detroit.

Because of that bit of nonsense, he thinks that the suspension, even if "legal", should have been cancelled out by the lockout.

Here's where I have a problem: Hatcher's suspension carried over; Todd Bertuzzi's did not. HOWEVER, the terms of the Hatcher suspension were clear: three games. The Bertuzzi suspension was the vague "indefinite". Mr. Bettman has used a great deal of discretion to determine that the period ofindefinitenessy has expired. On the other hand, Hatcher's "three games" have not. For the record, I was against the terms of Bertuzzi's suspension from the moment it was handed down. I thought there should have been more precise terms. Like, say, "82 games". Although I'm upset that Bertuzzi is being reinstated, I understand.

If you have a grievance with the league, and the Player's Association won't even back you, you're pretty much an idiot.

Lots of other crazy stuff today.

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