Laraque suspended five games for what could be 30 games for Kronwall

November 25, 12:27 AMDetroit Red Wings ExaminerMike Mouat

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Niklas Kronwall (AP Photo)

The NHL suspended Montreal's Georges Laraque for five games for his knee on knee hit on Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall.
Laraque is eligible to return to action on December 4th while Kronwall will miss at least four weeks with a sprained MCL and possibly as much as eight weeks. Under the best case scenario Kronwall would miss 15 games and as many as 30 should he miss the entire eight weeks.

The difficulty the league faces in these situations is they punish the action while considering the intent, without enough consideration to the resulting injury.

"Mr. Laraque's actions were dangerous and caused a significant injury to his opponent," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell in a statement released by the league.

Reading between the lines the suspension is only five games because there was no intent to injure, and I believe Laraque when says he did not intend to injure Krownwall on the play, but the result is he did injure Kronwall "significantly" as acknowledged by Campbell, and there has to be a consequence for the severity of the injury.

Here is Laraque's dubious shift where he smacked Darren Helm in the face and clipped Kronwall.

Now before I get accused of being anti-Laraque or pro Red Wings I would like to make clear that I believe that Laraque is an intellegent person and was intrigued by his well-written and thought out articles that appeared on sportsnet.ca last season on the topic of fighting and the decline of his role in the NHL as well as his thoughts on measures the league should implement for the safety of fighters. And the fact of the matter is I would still believe that five games is not severe enough punishment had it been Krownwall who stuck his leg out and injured Laraque.

In order to eradicate this type of hit as well as others that give rise to potential serious injury such as hits to the head, and checking from behind, the league needs to impose severe minimum punishments with the option to add further punishment at their discretion. But it's not up to them alone, the players have a role to play in this as well, and not just in their conduct on the ice, as they would have to approve such changes.

The players would certainly argue against any minimum and insist on a maximum based on specific guidleines as opposed to open-ended and arbitrary decisions by Campbell or the league office. Why?
You would think the players would be in support of measures intended to protect them physically, but at the same time you are asking them to approve measures that could cost them financially as they are not paid while suspended. A lengthy suspension could prove costly for a player, who in a split second makes a poor decision and reacts to a play where he was beaten by an opponent as was the case when Kronwall beat Laraque.

Laraque will forfeit $38,860.10 for his indiscretion, and some will argue that is punishment enough. Unfortunately I don't believe that five games will deter anyone from sticking their leg out in the future and injuring an opponent with another knee on knee hit.

For me enough punishment means it stops this type of poor decision making in the future.

What are your thoughts?