Mark Bell Suspended

[clarke-BOH 0]

From tsn.ca

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=217553&hubname=

[kosydar 0]

Hopefully his salary won't count against the cap while he is in treatment. Wasn't there someone on the Rags who was in treatment last season? How did that work within the CBA?

[RadioGaGa 162]

Hopefully his salary won't count against the cap while he is in treatment. Wasn't there someone on the Rags who was in treatment last season? How did that work within the CBA?

Sandis Ozalinch (sp?) wasn't it?

Unfortunate that a guy playing pro sports is gonna piss it all away to alcoholism...hopefully he can get his life back in order.

They didn't even want Bell did they? SJ said If you want Vesa...you gotta take this guy too.

[Hockeyman9621 0]

YAY! More good news for Bell. GO LEAFS GO

[Eazy_b97 1]

Doesn't count against the cap and Bell claimed earlier that he was sober. It looks like the NHL wants to make a splash after Bell had his legal stuff out of the way.

[Chadd 916]

Doesn't count against the cap and Bell claimed earlier that he was sober. It looks like the NHL wants to make a splash after Bell had his legal stuff out of the way.

If they actually cared about the guy he would have been placed in the program at the time of the accident. He should have just asked the judge to allow him to serve the sentence at a rehab center.

[Eazy_b97 1]

This is stage 2, so I just assumed he was in there after the incident as the first stage.

[Chadd 916]

This is stage 2, so I just assumed he was in there after the incident as the first stage.

This makes it sound like he was placed there because he plead guilty.

Sources say Bell's plea encouraged his placement into stage two as outlined by the substance abuse program even though more than a year has passed since the incident took place.

If so, level one for the crime and level two for accepting responsibility. That sounds like the NHL is being really vindictive. This sounds an awful lot like the NHL trying to show they can be just as tough as the NFL. Then again, it might actually be the right thing. There's no way to know without all of the details.

[Guitarmy 0]

The NHL needs to be more consistant. Why did Bell get suspended, when Heatley goes unpunished?

[Wolfpack_1986 154]

heatly wasnt drinking. tough to be suspended for substance abuse when you werent abusing anything.

[DEATHTRON 19]

Heatley has to live with the fact that he is responsible for killing another human the rest of his life. (also chargers were not pressed)

Mark Bell hit someones car after he had a few too many to drink.

No time sentence is going to help Heatley, time for Bell will at least give him some time to think about what he has done and be thankful it wasnt close to the magnitude of the Heatley incident.

Zach

[djinferno 2]

is this guy a f-up of what, rape charges in junior, drinking and driving and now this...

send him to jail now...

[kosydar 0]

What rape charges from junior? Never heard anything about that.

For the last time, you can't compare Bell and Heatley in this case. Heatley had been drinking, he just wasn't over the legal limit, but thats not the point. Both made bad choices, but it shouldn't be viewed as a "why is one in jail and the other not?".

In other news, Bouwmeester got a DUI too. Wonder what the league is going to do about it.

[keylei 0]

haha! he's your problem now toronto!

[Karly14 21]

if anything Toronto is happy he got suspended

[Hockeyman9621 0]

Amen, us Toronto fans don't want another underachiever. With that being said, I'd like to have him if his head is in the right place, but right now the suspension seems like a good fit.

[kosydar 0]

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. 15 game suspension from the league once the doctors allow him to be reinstated (no word yet on when that is, could even make the suspension more than 15 games). Maybe its the Leafs fan in me but it seems a bit much to suspend a guy for basically 1/5 of the season when he is already facing jail time. He has also shown that he has turned his life around. Still, looking at the positives, hopefully this will allow the Leafs to get an extended look at a guy like Williams, or Tlusty if he has a good camp.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. 15 game suspension from the league once the doctors allow him to be reinstated (no word yet on when that is, could even make the suspension more than 15 games). Maybe its the Leafs fan in me but it seems a bit much to suspend a guy for basically 1/5 of the season when he is already facing jail time. He has also shown that he has turned his life around. Still, looking at the positives, hopefully this will allow the Leafs to get an extended look at a guy like Williams, or Tlusty if he has a good camp.

I think Bettman is looking at Goodall's "don't make my league look bad" mentality and applying it here. Now, if Bowmeester (and every player who gets DUI'd or whatever in the future) doesn't also get something...it's just smoke up everyones ass.

[kosydar 0]

As far as I know Bouwmeester's DUI didn't involve a hit and run, which I guess escalates the situation quite a bit. DUI's are a funny thing, it seems like there is no standard of enforcement and legal punishments vary greatly. I personally know someone who got two within a year, but didn't get in any accidents, who spent a week in jail, couldn't drive for three years and was on probation for a long time. In the same state a kid I went to high school with got in a wreck while driving impaired, killed a family of three and almost himself and his passenger and only got something like ten years of parole and no driving for three years. Obviously this is just anecdotal, but it seems like DUIs aren't handled with great consistency. It'll be interesting to see how the league handles upcoming ones. I saw a thing on Sportsnet with Kypreos, and whether or not you like the guy I think he has a point that Bell is being a scapegoat for Bettman.

[mack 44]

Wow I can't believe someone used the "he has to live with..." guilt justifying Heatley.

[DEATHTRON 19]

Wow I can't believe someone used the "he has to live with..." guilt justifying Heatley.

Thats a pretty heavy weight on someones shoulders. While that was not taken into account with the Snyders thinking of persection, he still has to live with it everyday. Mark Bell just have to live with the fact he got a bit lit and ran into someone.

Zach

[mack 44]

So if a murderer gets that panging of guilt from taking someone's life, it should affect how their punishment should be handled? Being a Catholic I'm the king of guilt but that shouldn't even be an afterthought of taking some kind of pity on him for being involved in what happened.

[badsk8ter 0]

Mack, I hope you're not saying that Heatley is a murderer. In order to commit murder (and thus be a murderer), one must kill a person using malice and forethought. It was an accident, pure and simple. I think about all the times something like that could have happened to me when I was younger and it scares me. You can't compare the two (Bell and Heatley). The BA level in Heatley was roughly less than the equivalent of taking half a shot of Nyquil. Bell on the other hand, well, the man has a problem and I hope for his sake, he gets the help he needs.

[sdcopp 1]

Mack, I hope you're not saying that Heatley is a murderer. In order to commit murder (and thus be a murderer), one must kill a person using malice and forethought. It was an accident, pure and simple. I think about all the times something like that could have happened to me when I was younger and it scares me. You can't compare the two (Bell and Heatley). The BA level in Heatley was roughly less than the equivalent of taking half a shot of Nyquil. Bell on the other hand, well, the man has a problem and I hope for his sake, he gets the help he needs.

"Heatley was charged with vehicular homicide; he plead guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide, driving too fast for conditions, failure to maintain a lane, and speeding.Alcohol was found in his system, his blood-alcohol content was the legal limit. He was sentenced to three years probation."

Heatley's BA level was clearly a little higher than half a shot of Nyquil, but not over the legal limit. Despite that, he killed his passenger. Let that one sink in for a second: he KILLED his passenger Dan Snyder. Sure Snyder didn't die right then and there, it took six days before his body gave out. Because of Heatley's actions. It's viewed as a form of Negligent homicide unless there's intent and then it goes to manslaughter or murder.

If Bell had run over someone and killed them, it too would've been vehicular homicide. You're absolutely right that you can't compare the two. I don't say this to make light of the guilt Heatley for sure has to feel, but he got three years probabtion, whereas Bell is getting the book thrown at him in comparison with playing time lost, hoops to jump through and jail time. I think these athletes should be held accountable, but all equally.

[kosydar 0]

Wow I can't believe someone used the "he has to live with..." guilt justifying Heatley.

Thats a pretty heavy weight on someones shoulders. While that was not taken into account with the Snyders thinking of persection, he still has to live with it everyday. Mark Bell just have to live with the fact he got a bit lit and ran into someone.

Zach

So because the consequences of Heatley's poor decisions were far worse than Bell's, he doesn't "deserve" a harsh punishment because he'll inflict one upon himself? Who is to say Bell doesn't feel equally as bad, if not worse? I don't remember who it was (might have actually been Mack) who had been on that road and attested that driving 80-90 MPH is unimaginable. If anything, how is that worse than drinking and driving and rear-ending a guy at a stop sign? At least Heatley had a full sense of what he was doing. Bell's accident was stupid and I'm not supporting him over Heatley. Its just kind of ridiculous that a guy gets pretty much the worst punishment imaginable for an action that occurs far more often than people want to admit, yet others who commit far worse acts basically walk away. It seems like too many people like Heatley as the player, so they try to justify whats happened without really looking at what happened.