tbh I think Burke would go after a formal apology from the league and Bettman, rather than any tangible 'compensation', because it'll be difficult to quantify.
I wonder if the Flames organization might take legal action against the league for not acting in good faith through the appeal process. If they feel that the league intentionally delayed the process in order to make sure his original suspension was served no matter what, that might be a grievance.
In a case where a player is facing discipline and previous infractions are taken into consideration when deciding the punishment, is there some sort of "official record" the NHL refers to?
Let's say, hypothetically, the arbitrator rules in favour of Wideman and absolves him of any wrong doing even though he missed ~20 games. Fast forward a couple years and he's caught giving a player an illegal check to the head and he's facing discipline. When deciding the punishment, does he have a clean record up until that point or do officials take into consideration "that ref incident in 2016"?
Even if this suspension isn't rescinded, I don't think this suspension would have any bearing on Player Safety decisions down the road. This incident is unrelated to the DoPS.
If the arbitrator vacates the suspension then it is wiped from his record and can't be used to determine repeat offender status or precedent.
If the arbitrator doesn't vacate the suspension then it can be used to determine repeat offender status and as the basis for a stiffer suspension in the future if Wideman commits some other transgression. It doesn't matter that the original suspension was handled by the Department of Hockey Operations (Colin Campbell) rather then the Department of Player Safety. The CBA section for On-Ice Discipline doesn't even mention either department, just the League itself as having the power to discipline players. On-Ice Discipline covers both incidents with players and officials.
Arbitrators decision not expected for another week according to the Score app.
The guy's going to sit 20 before they decide he doesn't have to sit 20. Oh well, I haven't missed him