After the outrage, a stunned silence.No admission that maybe, sometimes, the instant assumptions are wrong. Or wrong-ish.A professional athlete, in this case, accused of domestic violence against his girlfriend. A league, the NHL, lambasted for a punishment — reduced from 27-game suspension to 18 by an arbitrator on appeal — perceived as a limp response.Unlike Major League Baseball, the NHL has no formal domestic violence policy, with every alleged incident decided on a case-by-case basis.Criticism of the NHL — and there was plenty of it, from a whole lot of folks with a media pulpit — was further fuelled when it was learned that the arbitrator who’d ruled “soft” on Nashville Predator forward Austin Watson had been fired by MLB in 2012, three months after overturning Ryan Braun’s 50-game suspension for using performance-enhancing drugs. Shyam Das had been the league’s longest-tenured arbitrator.So there was Watson, on the ice at Bridgestone Arena in full uniform last week, for pre-game ceremonies before the team’s home opener against Calgary, although he didn’t play and will not be eligible to play until Nov. 15. His inclusion did not go over well. The suspension adjustment had been jointly announced by the NHL Players’ Association the previous day.NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had called Watson’s behaviour “unacceptable” when he handed down the original suspension a month ago. And the league was clearly unhappy about the trim. “The NHL remains committed to do what we believe is right,” the league said in a statement. “And, in this regard, we intend to continue our steadfast efforts to ensure everyone in our League is adequately educated and sensitized to the importance of this serious social issue. We will not hesitate to adhere to and enforce — through firm discipline as necessary — the standards of professional conduct we feel are appropriat ...
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