Chara not suspended longer than 1 game.

Wow. Chara only gets a one game suspension for the way he almost crippled Pacioretty. (Pacioretty has a concussion and fractured vertebrae.) At a time the League is saying it wants to clamp down on hits to the head, and Mario Lemieux is whining about it, that is all Chara gets?

NHL Senior VP of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy said;

After a thorough review of the video I can find no basis to impose supplemental discipline. This hit resulted from a play that evolved and then happened very quickly -- with both players skating in the same direction and with Chara attempting to angle his opponent into the boards. I could not find any evidence to suggest that, beyond this being a correct call for interference, that Chara targeted the head of his opponent, left his feet or delivered the check in any other manner that could be deemed to be dangerous.

Hmmm ... it looks like Chara's hand/fist is guiding Pacioretty's head into the stanchion to me. Now I am not an NHL Official with lots of experience but that doesn't look like a check that came late to me. What was it Murphy said?

I could not find any evidence to suggest that, beyond this being a correct call for interference, that Chara targeted the head of his opponent, left his feet or delivered the check in any other manner that could be deemed to be dangerous.

No evidence? Hand guiding head into stanchion. Correct me if I am wrong but a check is shoulder/hip contact. Your elbow, hands, or knees, getting involved make it a bad/illegal check.

Whether it is a good hit gone bad or not it sure looks like more than a 1 game suspension. I figured he would get 3-5 extra games ... but none? The decision also ignored the fact that Chara was gunning for Pacioretty after an incident 2 games ago.

Then there was this comment;

In reviewing this play, I also took into consideration that Chara has not been involved in a supplemental discipline incident during his 13-year NHL career.

So, because he has had a relatively clean nose so far that precludes him from doing something wrong or negligent? What a bunch of icetards.

I hope Pacioretty recovers and is able to continue playing hockey. I hate to see anyone's career ruined that way.

Added later: There is a GREAT post about this on another blog, The H Does NOT Stand For Habs. In the comment section someone posted the following quote from Colin Campbell after Ovetchkin's suspension last year.

If you cause a player to be injured, then you have to be responsible for the play that you're involved in, if there's any carelessness or recklessness in it.

And this incident was different just because Chara never had any supplemental punishment before?