Dennis Wideman options still being reviewed by NHL

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The NHL said it’s still reviewing different disciplinary options on Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman for hitting a linesman, but remained mum on details.

An independent arbitrator lessened Wideman’s suspension, which was levied by the league’s hockey operations department, from 20 games to 10 games after a lengthy appeals process. The league said it “strenuously” disagreed with the decision and did not back off its stance when asked about it Wednesday after the NHL's general managers meetings.

After arbitrator James Oldham reduced Wideman’s suspension, Nick Kypreos reported that the NHL could go after Wideman in federal court. On Wednesday, Elliotte Friedman also noted that the league could take Wideman to the US Court of Appeals. As part of the appeals process, commissioner Gary Bettman initially upheld the 20-game suspension. It's believed the league wants the suspension to be returned to 20 games. 

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“We had a view of what happened here and the opinion is pretty clear,” Bettman said. “Obviously the arbitrator had a different view and whether or not that was appropriate is something we’ll continue to examine.”

When asked about specifics of their examination, Bettman declined to go further.

“I don’t want to get into that now,” Bettman said. “We’re still reviewing our options. Once we decide what those will be and what we may or may not do, we’ll have that discussion.”

The length of the appeals process was not brought up in the GMs meetings over the last three days, but it’s still a topic that drew controversy with Wideman.

Wideman hit linesman Don Henderson on Jan. 27 and didn’t get a final opinion on the appeal until March 11.This was the first time this process went to an independent arbitrator. Because of this the Flames were without Wideman for nine games longer than his eventual suspension noted and had to navigate a crucial part of the season, and trade deadline period, without one of their better defensemen.

“If anything the experience of it now is learning for everybody because it was the first time,” Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving said. “That’s probably the one thing you’d want to do is move through the process quicker. It may or may not be possible. You have scheduling and a whole bunch of things, but that would be the one thing from experience if it’s possible to do it quicker you’d want to do it quicker.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper