Unsolved Mysteries of NHL Suspensions

By popular demand, a look at Ben Eager getting a 4 game suspension for a sucker punch. I need to keep my fan(s?) happy, and I can hardly pass up on an opportunity to bash the NHL discipline system.

Video:

After the game, Armstrong called Eager a meathead. Eager said Armstrong's a phony who gives it out but won't fight when challenged. I can't disagree with either assessment.

Don't get me wrong, this was a sucker punch that clearly deserved a penalty, and maybe a suspension. But 4 games? That seems totally unexpected. Without doing more serious review of comparable incidents, two recent plays:

33 seconds in:

2 game suspension.

30 seconds in:

No games

The NHL wheel of justice is mysterious. Fans can't shake the feeling that player reputations and popularity, the teams involved, the visibility of the incident, and the resulting injury take on more importance in the review process than the actual action.

Eager got carried away and crossed a line, and got called for a deserved penalty. Is 4 games really necessary? More importantly, is 4 games even logical? Of those three recent incidents, seems to me Lucic's punch was arguably the most reprehensible, taking a shot at a guy who delivered a legal hit when the opposing player is restrained by officials and not looking.

The only sense I can make is that Eager's punch was basically during live play, rather than in a post-whistle scrum.

Or alternatively, the NHL simply doesn't have an issue with potshots on restrained players (see this Downie punch a few seasons ago);

Frankly, who the hell knows. Apparently NHL suspensions are more art than science.