So the bar has been set: Hit a guy in the face with your stick, and you get 25 games.

Jesse Boulerice gets the same punishment for attempting to remove Ryan Kesler's head at the neck that Chris Simon did last year for his chop job on Ryan Hollweg.

I don't think anyone would say this is too much. It's a significant punishment for a significant transgression. Given the standards of today's game, it's probably sufficient.

But was this an opportunity, given Jesse's past history as a genuinely nice guy who has snapped more than once, with gruesome results, to do more? (Would the punishment have been stiffer if Kesler had been injured?)

I don't know. But I think it's open to debate.

10/12/07 at 16:38
To me, this is a testament to the great leadership and coaching of Paul Maurice. Boulerice was a troubled player long before his days in Carolina and was a model citizen here on and off the ice. We all know about his OHL season long suspension and it appears that the only time in his career he has avoided trouble for more than a handful of games was with this organization. I think Francis, Brind'Amour, and Wesley contributed to that a great deal.

Jesse appears to take the Flyers mantra of playing Bobby Clarke hockey, even after his unceremoneous dump, gets in his head. You can't play broadstreet bullies every night.