NHL fails to take stand with Duncan Keith suspension

— -- If you listened to the NHL's video explanation of their handling of Duncan Keith's nasty slash to the face of the Minnesota Wild's Charlie Coyle, you'd be convinced they got it right.

This was a "retaliatory act of violence by a player with a history of using his stick as a weapon," explained the video supporting the suspension of the star Chicago Blackhawks defenseman released Friday night.

The video explanation noted that Keith, who'd been knocked to the ice by Coyle in a play moments earlier in Tuesday's game, looked directly at Coyle before swinging his stick into Coyle's face.

This was not an example of incidental or innocent contact between a player's stick and an opponent, the video produced by the NHL's department of player safety surmised.

And so all of this is right on the mark until the very end -- the most important moment of any supplementary discipline -- the moment when the league sadly took a knee instead of taking a stand.

Instead of handing down a suspension that would have punished the Blackhawks and their most important player -- a two-time Norris Trophy winner -- and been commensurate with all of the evidence outlined in the video, they took the easy way out in giving Keith a six-game suspension.

Basically the "punishment" is a five-game breather for Keith plus the first game of the playoffs.

In spite of Keith's history (he slashed Jeff Carter in the face during the Western Conference finals in an act of retaliation in 2013), the NHL in essence gave Keith only a one-game penalty.

Because one game is all that matters here; the first game of the playoffs.

The first five games are a mirage, a puff of dust, a complete misdirection, an abdication of responsibility by a league that continues to take one step forward and several steps back when it comes to trying to establish what is acceptable behavior on the ice.

We happen to believe that Keith might be the greatest defenseman to ever play for the Chicago Blackhawks. He is a sure-fire Hall of Famer with his three Stanley Cup rings, two Olympic gold medals and double Norris Trophy honor.

But in 2013 when he lashed out at Carter, then head league disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan noted in handing down a one-game suspension many of the same elements that Friday night's decision highlighted.

The Carter slash was not accidental or defensive.

Neither was the slash on Coyle.

So, what lesson has been learned?

None, apparently.

And certainly it would seem the league has learned little about what actually constitutes adequate supplemental discipline.

The Blackhawks are likely to play the Dallas Stars or St. Louis Blues in the first round of the playoffs. They'll miss Keith for the first game only and then, presumably, he'll return fresh and ready to roll.

That's punishment?

The goal of supplemental discipline is to not only penalize a player for his actions, to make him accountable for losing control and stepping over the line, but to also penalize his team as a reminder to all players that their actions have consequences. At least it should be the goal. Given this decision, the league has failed once again to do what is required of them to reach that goal.

What would have been just?

At least the first two games of a best-of-seven series. At least.

Coyle avoided serious injury. He was lucky. He could have suffered a broken orbital bone or an eye injury or a broken jaw.

And in the aftermath, the league has tried to pull a fast one on the public, the game and the players by making a six-game suspension sound and look like something it's not.

And it reinforces the notion that the league has a hierarchical standard of discipline, and star players are treated differently.

Chicago and Duncan Keith got off lightly.

Unfortunately Chicago's opponent in the first round of the playoffs and the game itself are the ones who got short shrift from this decision.