Alexander Ovechkin is injured. And suspended. On Dec. 1 against the Hurricanes, Ovechkin was the perpetrator in a knee-on-knee hit against defenseman Tim Gleason and was assessed a two-game suspension by the NHL for it. The unexpected consequence of the hit was that Ovechkin injured himself and had to leave the game. He also missed Wednesday night’s game against the Florida Panthers. The Capitals haven’t had to do anything to make the best of a bad situation. The National Hockey League did it for them.

Granted, this is a special case in that Ovechkin was not trying to hurt himself on the play, but he was given a two-game suspension anyway. The fact that Ovechkin was going to miss at least one of the two following games due to the injury makes the suspension ridiculous. What kind of punishment is Ovechkin really serving if he was going to miss the games anyway? What the NHL should do is implement a delayed suspension. Let Ovechkin heal, play a full game of hockey, then serve his suspension.

Players miss games all the time due to injury. Coupling injury with a suspension is like killing two birds with one stone for the Capitals. It’s like in baseball when a starting pitcher is suspended for three games for throwing at a batter. He wasn’t going to play for those three games anyway, so what does he care? Ovechkin is going to lose just under $100,000 for not playing in the games, but the impact of the suspension is lost on the rest of the league.

The NHL clearly wants their star player back on the ice as soon as possible, and you can bet that there are going to be some disappointed fans in Philadelphia on Saturday night when the Capitals skate through without Ovi, but the NHL needs to show more integrity. Regardless of a player’s status within the league and with fans, everybody needs to be judged on the same scale. The hierarchy of players in the NHL makes things unfair, but while the league makes money from Ovechkin’s presence, nothing’s going to change.