Does Carolina’s Walker deserve a suspension for his suckerpunch?

Photo courtesy of Mattel. I think you all know which robot is which in this metaphor.

Even I, for whom the sun might as well rise and set with the Carolina Hurricanes, found that Scott Walker suckerpunch to the face of Aaron Ward in the waning minutes of Game 5 despicable.

If you didn’t catch the game, this is what happened. It was the tail end of a horrible game for the Hurricanes, and they were getting frustrated. Fights were breaking out all over the place (well, when you put Tim Conboy into the line-up, that’s what happens, Mo!) The score was 4-0 and the team had been dominated in every way, even though it was expected to close out the Boston series. After playing so well for so long, a lapse in mental toughness was expected for the ‘Canes – but perhaps not quite this drastic. After a scrum near Boston’s net, Scott Walker engaged Aaron Ward. He shoved him in the face with his glove, trading smack talk. Then, seemingly without warning, he slid off his gloves and decked him right in the face. Walker received a misconduct, a fighting major and an instigator penalty for his efforts.

My question is the same as the one the announcers posed: why in the world didn’t Ward defend himself? Walker had him by the jersey, so he clearly couldn’t skate away. But wasn’t the first glove in the face enough of an indication that Walker meant business? That’s almost just stupidity. Walker shouldn’t have done that, but Ward lamely left his arms at his sides as though preparing for the inevitable – sort of like the Hurricanes’ performance in this game.

Ward, a former ‘Cane, wasn’t known for dropping the gloves, to be sure. He’s a clean, sturdy defenseman that played with the ‘Canes for a long time and won the cup with them. Walker never played with Ward; I highly doubt that anyone on the ‘Canes’ team that played with Ward would have gone after him like that. Sure those acts are in the heat of the moment, but you have to realize who you’re fighting. After the punch, Matt Cullen, who was sitting on the ice, looked like he wanted to go to Ward’s aid.

Now, Ward may have a broken orbital bone and Walker is facing a suspension. As per NHL rules, which the league has been halfway decent about enforcing this year, a fight instigated during the last five minutes of a game warrants a suspension. So that’s one game off the bat, unless the league takes a look at it and decides that it wasn’t a “fight,” I imagine (it really wasn’t. Just a very one-sided Rock’em Sock’em Robots-esque blow.) That is deserved. The only question in my mind, now, is whether he deserves more for his very unsportsmanlike and just plain boneheaded move at the tail end of a game that the ‘Canes should have just escaped and put behind them. He might. One or two games, at most – no more than three.

“The Walker incident is not something they should be proud of,” Claude Julien told the press. “Something like that is not what you want to see, your player put in that position. Hopefully the people in charge will see that play and decide what they want to do about it.”

If Ward is out for longer, it raises the argument again that the offending player should receive a suspension for as long as the injured player is out. Ward could miss significant time, and in the playoffs no less. But then it gets tricky – see, the Bruins are on the brink, and they were when the non-fight happened. And while Walker is a decidedly third-or-fourth line energy guy, Ward is on the Bruins’ top defensive pairing. No one has been able to come up with an effective logarithm for this proposed rule change, even though it’s good in theory.

The Hurricanes have this going for them: they don’t get suspensions often, if ever. However, if someone is going to draw justice from the league, it’s going to be Walker. I can’t find records of this at the moment, but I’ll hazard a guess that the only ‘Cane to draw a suspension in the last three years is Walker. This isn’t a dirty or a particularly physical team, quite honestly. This kind of thing happens once in a blue moon and shouldn’t be a reflection on the team. In addition, there is no way Paul Maurice should be fined. This was clearly a renegade move by Walker; I’d bet my tuition money that Mo did not, in fact, whisper in Walker’s ear, “Go deck Ward for me, pretty please,” before sending him off the bench. This was a crime of passion, so to speak. It’s not like Walker is a prizefighter; he’s a grinder. Maurice did not send him out there with the knowledge that he would do something this stupid. If he’d sent Conboy, then maybe. But not Walker.

Okay, so I think I’ve essentially taken a page out of Scotty’s book and bludgeoned this topic to death. We’ll wait and see what the league hands down, but even your resident Hurricanes enthusiast thinks this warrants a suspension. In Walker’s place, I beseech the ‘Canes to put in someone a little less pugnacious and a little more talented – Brandon Sutter, for example. Or Ryan Bayda, if he’s gotten the flu bug out of his system.

Some Other Articles That You May Enjoy:
Update – Scott Walker Fined By NHL
The Bruins’ New Public Enemy
Scott Walker Drops Aaron Ward
Can There be a Standard for Suspendable Offenses To Eliminate Grey Areas?
Carolinas Cam Ward out Indefinitely
Inquiring Minds: Should Donald Brashear Be Suspended For This Hit On Blair Betts?

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