Niederreiter suspension puts NHL's anti Leafs bias on display

Friday night, Carolina Hurricanes forward Nino Niederreiter was decked by Tom Wilson into the Caps bench. While trying to extricate himself, someone on the bench, either Alex Ovechkin or Garnet Hathaway, pulled Niederreiter's helmet off. Neiderriter stood up and slashed Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, who was sitting beside Hathaway, in the face.

Let me say that again, Niederreiter slashed an opponent in the face while said opponent was on the bench.

The Department of Player Safety announced today that Niederreiter has been suspended for one game. One. Game. One game for slashing an opponent in the face while he sat on the bench and it wasn't even the player who pulled Niederreiter's helmet off.

A slash to the face is obviously extremely dangerous. Niederreiter could easily have knocked out teeth, broken Jonsson-Fillaby's jaw, orbital bone or nose, or worse, caused a significant eye injury. This is a wildly dangerous act on a player who wasn't even involved in the play.

This comes less than a week after Auston Matthews was suspended for 2 games for a glancing shot off of Dahlin's shoulder. Need I remind you that the last 18 times it has occurred during regular season play, the result was merely a fine? Niederreiter's infraction was much more dangerous and was completely unwarranted.

How much longer will the Leafs, who keep a significant portion of the league afloat with equalization payments, allow this kind of treatment from the league? How long until Shanahan, or even MLSE speaks up? The Leafs have all the money in the world to cover fines. It's time for them to stand up for themselves, both on the ice and off of it.