@General:
NHL should send a message to a repeat offender like Keith by giving him the rest of the season AND the first round of the playoffs.
That would be great. However, it seems they weight 1 playoff game equivalent to between 3 and 5 regular season games. That said, I have a hard time believing that they will come down with a potentially 7 playoff game ban for Keith, a star, one of the leagues best, on the face-of-the-league team.
I do agree that some serious message needs to be sent though. This isn’t the first time, the second time or the third time this has happened. The guy is clearly an unremorseful repeat offender with a pattern for this and other forms of beyond the line violence. Here is some more stick work action from Keith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGfhjojSbcw
It annoyed me that even Joel Quenville is not condemning Keith’s actions. I understand that he is his coach, but come on. This is completely indefensible crap. Whatever messages the league has sent up until now clearly have not had an effect here. When does it become part of his organization’s responsibility to condemn and bear some account for Keith’s actions? Everyone was quick to jump on the Blackhawks organization for not voluntarily distancing themselves from Patrick Kane during the offseason rape-accusation circus that followed him around…… which turned out to not even be true… but who is calling for the organization to condemn Keith’s clear and present violence on the ice? I mean, swinging a stick at guy’s faces is not minor-penalty idiocy. This is Marty McSorley-level stuff. This is concussion, facial laceration, eye damage, dental damage, nose breaking kind of crap.
It’s not even competitive, down and dirty play. It is intent to injure borne out of childish selfishness and unchecked anger at being slighted in any way.