Pronger, The Stomper

The steady all-star big Duck, Chris Pronger was suspended for eight games on Saturday for stomping on the leg of the Canucks’ Ryan Kesler after the two got tangled up behind the net. In attempting to free himself, Pronger, a 33-year-old defenseman recklessly brought his foot down. Luckily, there was no injury and also no penalty at all after that. Pronger is now considered a repeat offender with two suspensions in the last postseason out of eight in his career and he will forfeit about $610,000 in salary. This incident recalled a stomp by the former Islander, Chris Simon, who had a league-record 30-game suspension. Such a spontaneous incident could ruin the players’ careers, but a long suspension for this minor unsportsmanlike foot stomp would be a bit unfair.

Some powerful headshots by Pronger have caused only two one-game suspensions, plus injuries, but is it fair to get a longer suspension for stomping a leg even though the player was not injured? A long-term suspension should only be given for intentional misconducts which caused injuries. The Ducks’ defenseman didn’t even injure Kesler and the stomping happened while he was trying to get away from him. Brutal high-sticks and headshots that hurt players deserve to get big suspensions, but an incidental stomp should not.
Pronger hasn’t got any longer suspension than this before even though this is his eighth. The incidents that have caused his past suspensions were even more brutal than this. Therefore, it is unfair to handicap the Ducks, who are vying for the playoff seed, by punishing their captain for almost the rest of the regular season.