The NHL supplemental discipline process has similarities to the U.S. legal system in that there is a trial phase and a sentencing phase.
How it works:
Phase I: Once the NHL Player Safety Department determines a player's action should come under review, a hearing is called. Most hearings are done by phone. According to the collective bargaining agreement, a player can't be suspended for more than five games unless he is offered an in-person hearing.
The player can waive his right to an in-person hearing. Usually a player, his agent and the team's general manager are involved in the hearing, as well as a member of the NHL Players Association who participates to make sure the process is handled fairly.
"The only thing the hearing is about is the incident," says Brendan Shanahan, NHL senior vice president for player safety. "It's not about a player's history. It's not about (the opposing player's) injury. It's only about the incident alone."
In the hearing, the player gives his version of the event and is asked questions about his thought process during the incident.
Phase II: If Shanahan decides the player deserves supplemental discipline, he enters the second phase, in which punishment is determined. Only then are the player's history and the opponent's medical status brought into play.
"So sometimes people say that the (opponent) didn't get hurt so there is no suspension," Shanahan said. "No, that's not true. The injury would make a suspension worse. The absence of an injury does not make a suspendable offense unsuspendable."
For example, Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom received a one-game suspension for cross-checking the Boston Bruins' Rich Peverley in the face, even though Peverley was not injured on the play.
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