The NHL slapped him with this suspension for his check from behind last week against linesman Don Henderson. Sideman was in the league's department of hockey operations for his hearing, but the league decided that the video of him checking the linesman far outweighed his explanation.
Commissioner Gary Bettman was not part of the initial hearing, but will handle the first appeal if Wideman chooses to go that way.
This hit on the linesman comes on the heels of being knocked down by an Oilers player. Now, this could mean that he got hit pretty hard and didn't see the linesman, which I don't believe, or he felt like a penalty needed to be called and when it didn't happen, he hit the linesman in retaliation, which I believe a little more but it may not be the reason.
Wideman has has apologized to Henderson after the incident, but apologies rarely get you an out-of-jail free card.
20 games is the minimum sentence for unintentionally hitting an official, which I expected to happen. The video does not help Wideman in any way. He appeared to have checked him maliciously and without remorse, so it was clear the NHL had to do something regarding this play. I would've liked it better if I saw this from the other angle, the front-face angle. Did he show any emotion checking the linesman? Did he not appear to see him as he skated towards the beach? What was the status of Wideman before he hit the linesman? I wish I could believe more to this story and more of what's coming out of Wideman, but I can't now. The video is the only kind of proof that I'll be looking at. That's not to say that Wideman is a dirty player, but as the old saying goes, "Video proof says all."
The Flames said they support Wideman's appeal and that the collision "was unintentional and accidental." Well, of course the Flames are going to support him. He's their player. And I would expect the same for any other player in this league, whether or not it's intentional.
I think there's more to still come out of this story, like an appeal or the fact that Wideman has a concussion. Although these don't excuse his actions, they might explain him going up until the linesman, but again, I don't have that information yet and I can't speculate until I read more into it. But right now, the NHL is doing the right thing in suspending this guy. Hitting a referee is never okay, even if they get calls wrong from time to time. So Wideman will have to take a seat and the Flames will have to find a way to crawl back into the Pacific Division for that amount of time.
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