The NHL’s justice system is broken. It’s gotten so bad that a lengthy suspension to a career predator who may have ended the season of a superstar is seen as laughable because of the suspensions that have gone before (or in the case of Shea Weber, the ones that have not gone before). Despite much acclaim early in the season, Brendan Shanahan has now clearly shown that, when the games really matter, he’s no better at meting out punishment than his predecessor, Colin “My Son Plays for the Bruins So I Won’t Suspend Bruins and Miraculously They Just Won the Cup How About That” Campbell. If the NHL wants to regain any measure of credibility it needs to look to (and I’m holding my nose as I type this) the Conservative Party of Canada. It needs to establish clear and consistent rules (not guidelines, rules) for what constitutes a suspension and the length of that suspension. It needs to establish mandatory minimums.

Raffi Torres was suspended for 25 games today. TWENTY-FIVE! That’s more than Todd Bertuzzi got for ending Steve Moore’s career (20 games) and more than Marty McSorley got for nearly killing Donald Brashear with a two-handed stick swing to the head (23 games). This isn’t a bad thing. Torres is widely regarded as the pre-eminent predator in the National Hockey League. This season alone, he’s been suspended twice (now three times) for targeted hits to the head. If the NHL wants to suspend him for the rest of the season, nobody’s going to argue. But this one suspension, which is seemingly an attempt to send a message, does not in any way make up for all the ones they got wrong.

The problem is that, even with the NHL’s accompanying videos, nobody knows how league arrives at the final decision. Nobody would have been surprised by a five-game ban. After all, Duncan Keith got five games for concussing the reigning Ted Lindsay award winner (MVP as voted by players) in Daniel Sedin. Nobody would have been surprised by a 10-game ban, due to Torres’ repeat offender status. Hell, I wouldn’t have been surprised by a three-game ban on the grounds that Marian Hossa had only just lost possession of the puck before Torres launched himself. Carl Hagelin got a similar three-game suspension for elbowing Daniel Alfredsson in the head just a few days earlier.

Consistency! It is the key to deterrence and the thing that NHL punishments most lack. Colin Campbell, who held the disciplinarian’s job for years before Shanahan took over, was constantly mocked for spinning the Wheel of Justice every time a dangerous incident crossed his desk. Shanahan started well, but has now reverted to Campbell’s erratic ways. Shanahan’s recent suspensions have seemed to take into account factors that shouldn’t matter. When Shea Weber slammed Henrik Zetterberg’s face into the boards, he was let off with a fine that was equivalent to my boss fining me $10. Why? It was pre-meditated, it was dangerous and it targeted the head. That should be enough for a suspension. Letting him off with a fine smacks of special treatment for one of the league’s superstars. Duncan Keith’s hit on Daniel Sedin garnered a five-game penalty. There is no way in hell that can be construed as a hockey play – it was an elbow, sans body, aimed directly at the Swedish stars mouth – but, again, a top player in the league gets off lightly. It stinks.

Here’s my solution: mandatory minimums. There are plenty of arguments against them in the criminal justice world. They don’t deter crime, they cost a lot of money, they don’t take into account potential mitigating factors, but those arguments are rendered invalid when you’re dealing with an employer/employee relationship instead of a government/citizen relationship. Further, the league is showing that it’s unable to fairly administer suspensions without them. If you attack someone who’s not defending himself, like Matt Carkner did, you sit for three games. If you hit someone in the head, five-game ban. Period. Regular season or playoffs, doesn’t matter. Superstar player, doesn’t matter. If you’re a repeat offender, double the suspension for every infraction until the message is received. If the hit results in a serious injury, double it again.

Maybe that’s excessive. Maybe it won’t act as a deterrent. It doesn’t matter. At this point, the league needs to work on gaining credibility and being seen to punish acts that tarnish the game. Lay out the formula for suspensions for all to see, in excruciating detail, and stick to it. Eliminate the perception of favouritism and inconsistency, and do it now, or people are going to be turned off of NHL hockey.