Deen: Avalanche’s Nazem Kadri may appeal suspension, as he should

It’s hard, in theory, to argue the suspension Avalanche center Nazem Kadri received Friday night from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety. Kadri is a repeat offender, committing a suspendable offense for the third time in four years during the Stanley Cup playoffs. That part has been made very clear.

But it’s a lot easier to argue the DoPS’ consistency, or lack thereof, and the idea that Kadri has very much been a poster boy for suspensions that others are easily avoiding. The 30-year-old has evidence to appeal his eight-game suspension. And if does, he could very much be successful in decreasing the punishment.

This suspension is not like Kadri’s last two — in 2018 and 2019 with the Maple Leafs against Boston in the first round of the playoffs. In those plays, Kadri was suspended both times for, let’s face it, boneheaded plays where his frustrations and anger got the best of him.

The second year, he cross-checked Bruins’ Jake DeBrusk in the face and was suspended for the remainder of the series. Like his illegal check to the head of Justin Faulk on Wednesday, that hit was also in Game 2.

But that’s where the similarities end.

Kadri did not make a boneheaded play against the St. Louis Blues. He lined up Faulk for a check and got him at the wrong angle at the wrong time, and ended up wiping out the defenseman with a hit to the head. One stride, one look, one second later and it would’ve had a different outcome for both Kadri and Faulk. But such is what happens in a fast-paced game and when you play on the edge the way Kadri does.

The hit should not have warranted discussions that Kadri is a selfish player that hasn’t learned his lesson. The mindset he had in Toronto had been washed away — as we saw during his first playoff run with the Avs where he recorded nine goals and 18 points in 15 games while staying out of trouble. Kadri is not that same player. And the fact that the NHL did not hear that argument and still suspended him for eight valuable playoff games is an atrocity in itself.

And as for the inconsistencies:

You could argue that the issue isn’t that Kadri didn’t get what he deserves. It’s that others in the same situation have not.

Capitals forward Tom Wilson was fined $5,000 less than three weeks ago for punching a defenseless Pavel Buchnevich in the head. He then went on to ragdoll Artemi Panarin but the NHL made it clear that it only fined him for the Buchnevich play.

Wilson had accumulated five suspensions before that incident on May 5. He received two suspensions nine days apart totaling six games late in 2017. Then seven months later, Wilson was suspended for three playoff games for an illegal check to the head of Zach Aston-Reese of the Penguins.

He followed that up fourth months later with what would be his largest suspension to date. He was dinged for 20 games — which he later appealed down to 14 — for yet another illegal check to the head, this time of Oskar Sundqvist.

Then in March of this year, Wilson was handed a six-game suspension for a check on Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo.

Two months later he punched Buchnevich in the back of the head. After his two previous suspensions for head hits. The NHL made it clear that head hits have no place in the game. Yet this was the hill they were willing to die on. You can’t check a player in the head, but what Wilson did to a defenseless player laying on the ice was fair game.

Kadri was suspended for three games in 2013 for running over Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom. He then received a five-game suspension over six years ago — in March of 2015 — for a head hit of Edmonton’s Matt Fraser.