After completing the six games of his suspension, David Perron returned to play for the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, but he's not necessarily done with the National Hockey League (NHL) just yet.
The Quebec forward defied Commissioner Gary Bettman by appealing his punishment earlier this week. He hasn't played since Dec. 9, when he delivered a solid double-check to the neck of Ottawa Senators defenseman Artem Zub.
Perron came to the aid of his captain Dylan Larkin, who had just fallen to the ground after making contact with Mathieu Joseph. According to him, his actions should not have been punished so harshly.
“I tried to respond to such an incident. Obviously I hit the guy a little high. I understand that there had to be discipline here. For my part, I felt like it was pretty exaggerated in terms of comparisons, my history, my career… a lot of things,” the veteran said in the press scrum on Friday, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The NHL announced later in the day that it had maintained the six-game ban. However, Perron could turn to an independent arbitrator with the aim of forfeiting a certain amount of money with the sanction and setting a precedent.
The Evil
Perron knows his actions were born out of emotions… and that he attacked the wrong person. Zub was near the scene of Larkin losing consciousness, but never touched him.
“I wouldn’t have attacked anyone indiscriminately,” he assured. If you see my look for the second time, he has one knee on the ground, he's on “Larks.” […] It happens so quickly in your head and you’re just trying to react correctly and quickly.”
“It went badly,” he admitted. I can understand that a suspension was necessary, but I think six games were too many.”[qu'unesuspensionétaitrequisemaisjetrouvequesixmatchsc'étaitbeaucouptrop»[qu’unesuspensionétaitrequisemaisjetrouvequesixmatchsc’étaitbeaucouptrop»
All Perron wanted was to play hard and win without hurting opponents. Against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday night, he was left off the scoresheet in a 7-6 shootout win.