Dennis Wideman returns to game action; wishes appeal went quicker
On Friday, Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman played his first game since a Jan. 27 incident when he hit linesman Don Henderson in the back of the head.
Wideman was suspended 20 games by the NHL in early February. A lengthy appeal process knocked the suspension down to 10 games but Wideman still sat a total of 19 games.
Earlier in the day the arbitrator James Oldham reduced Wideman’s suspension, which made Wideman eligible for Friday's game, a loss to the Arizona Coyotes. Henderson, who suffered a concussion on the play, hasn’t officiated a game since the incident and his career is reportedly in jeopardy. This was the first time such an appeal process went to a neutral arbitrator.
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Wideman didn’t take any questions from reporters after the game and said his statement would be his “last comments on this.”
Wideman was a minus-1 and played 18 minutes.
Oldham reasoned that Wideman should have been suspended, but 20 games was too harsh since Wideman didn’t intend to injure Henderson.
“First and foremost I want to wish Don Henderson a speedy recovery, I realize that he’s still working through his injuries and trying to make his way back and I hope to see him out here back on the ice as soon as possible,” Wideman said. “I’m happy it was reduced to 10 games but I still maintain that it was completely accidental and I had no intent on hitting (Henderson) at all. As far as the process goes I know it was a bit of a longer process. I think being it was the first time, a precedent setting there was a lot that went into it from both NHL and NHLPA. I just hope going forward maybe next time it can move along a little bit quicker.”
He also thanked his teammates, the Flames fans, the management coaching staff and the NHLPA, noting the last few weeks have been a distraction. Because the appeal lessened the suspension, Wideman will lose $282,258 instead of $564,516.
In Oldham’s decision, it was divulged a text message referenced by commissioner Gary Bettman where Wideman ripped the "stupid refs and stupid media" as to why he was going through the process, was sent to Columbus Blue Jackets forward Gregory Campbell, son of Colin Campbell, who originally handed out the 20-game suspension. In his original ruling, Bettman believed apologies by Wideman rang, "somewhat hollow" because of the text message.
In his ruling, Bettman said the text was sent to a teammate, but didn't give a name.
According to TSN’s Frank Seravalli, the text message was not sent to Gregory Campbell and instead was sent to Calgary captain Mark Giordano. Sportsnet’s Nick Kypreos said he spoke to Wideman who told him the text was not sent to Gregory Campbell.
Wideman didn’t mention the text message in his comments.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
