NHL players should be ashamed of union after legal bombshell

CHICAGO — If this were in the news section of the The Post, it might be called “a bombshell.”

The 31-page legal document released from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on Thursday that upheld the 20-game suspension for Tom Wilson is a brutally damning document for the Players’ Association. It shows the union making utterly outrageous arguments in defense of one of its constituents in a violent crime against another.

Once again, the PA is woefully mistaken in the idea that defending one player is their job rather than defending all their players equally — including the ones hurt not from suspension but from the brutish and malicious play of a fellow competitor. Of course, the PA has a responsibility to defend its players against what, at times, can be an overbearing league. And of course the legalese used in that defense has to exaggerate reality in hopes of finding a middle ground. It’s like a criminal getting indicted with eight crimes, the defense attorney claiming complete innocence, then a plea bargain is found in the middle. We get it.

But this is not the U.S. legal system. This is players against players.

Just take a moment to think how Oskar Sundqvist feels when reading some of the things the union said about Wilson’s brutally dangerous play in a preseason game Sept. 30 that concussed Sundqvist so bad it continues to keep him out of the lineup, as well as cut his face and sprained his shoulder.

Start with the PA’s overarching contention that Wilson did not violate Rule 48, illegal check to the head.

“There should have been no supplementary discipline of any kind, nor suspension of any duration,” the PA argued.

That was because the head “should be deemed ‘the main point of contact’ only when it snaps independently of the rest of the Player’s body.” The PA said it was “a full body check,” but then added that the head was unavoidable because Sundqvist “put himself in a vulnerable position by assuming a posture that made head contact on an otherwise full body check unavoidable.”

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Welcome back for another season of The Backcheck, where apparently…

The fact is Sundqvist was shooting the puck and was eligible to be hit (just as Department of Player Safety head George Parros said in the initial video release explaining the suspension). But Wilson went and hit him in the head, although the PA said the head was not “picked as a result of poor timing, poor angle of approach or unnecessary extension of the body upward or outward.”

From watching the hit, it’s hard to think anyone actually believes those statements.

Which is why the PA also produced a secondary argument, one that proposed the suspension was far too long and that Wilson should be suspended just eight games. It tried to say Wilson isn’t that bad of a repeat offender — despite having been suspended four times in one year — and criticized the previous discipline most rational observers thought was always too lenient. The PA also took umbrage with Parros’ “multiplier” math that led to 20 games. The PA said Wilson is “generally considered a ‘clean’ player, not a ‘head hunter.’ ” Not entirely sure where anyone thinks that outside of the Capitals locker room (and front office).

At the end, Bettman writes a forceful conclusion that rightfully upholds the 20-game suspension and Wilson giving up $1,260,162.60 of salary that goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.

“One true and fundamental test of effective discipline is whether the discipline is of sufficient strength and impact that it has the effect of deterring the Player being disciplined from repeating the same or similar conduct in the future,” Bettman wrote. “By this standard, the supplementary discipline previously assessed to Mr. Wilson prior to this incident has clearly been ineffective in deterring his dangerously reckless play. … I hope that this decision will serve as an appropriate ‘wake-up call’ to Mr. Wilson, causing him to reevaluate and make positive changes to his game.”

This document was thorough and authoritative, and the players who pay their union dues should be appalled at some of the things said by their representatives. They still have the right to appeal the appeal — of course — and bring it to a “independent” arbitrator. The most recent time that happened, it resulted in a convicted domestic abuser getting a suspension reduced.

One can only hope the PA already sees its short-sightedness in this instance and just lets this indignity die with Bettman’s bombshell.

Agreeing with Torts

Checks to the head are bad, but violence and animosity are part of the fabric of hockey. And I agree with John Tortorella when he said that the game is getting “like a big hug-fest sometimes.”

Example A would be his own player, Anthony Duclair, yukking it up in the penalty box with his former Arizona teammate Nick Cousins while the two were in opposing penalty boxes. Remember when players used to scream at each other from there? No, it’s not the same game. And it’s worse for it.

Goalie gripes

So the NHL wants more goals scored — got it. But do they really want to put the health of the goaltender in jeopardy?

First they cut down the size of leg pads. Then they cut down the size of shorts. Now they cut down the size of chest protectors — and goalies are bruising up like ripened fruit, as explained by Toronto’s Garrett Sparks.

The game has changed, and the goalie equipment needed to get more protective. It went too far, and now there needs to be a return to what is acceptable. But done in haste, and that’s how you end up putting players’ health at risk.

Stay tuned …

… to Finland. Did you forget the league that didn’t want to send its players to the Olympics is still focused on international growth? That’s why they’re sending the Panthers and Jets to Helsinki for games Nov. 1 and 2, with native sons Patrik Laine and Aleksander Barkov as the main draws. The Devils played the Oilers in Sweden and Germany to start the year, just in case you forgot. And the players are well aware the 2022 Olympics are in Beijing.

Parting Shot

There are a lot of great charities out there with contributions from hockey players, but Anders Lee Kancer Jam is a special one. The newly minted Islanders captain has raised just over $800,000 in the previous two years, and the third annual fundraiser is Nov. 11, after a game in Brooklyn against the Stars.