NHL Player Safety makes controversial ruling on the Terry/Beagle incident.

The National Hockey League's Department of Player Safety has earned a reputation for making seemingly inconsistent and sometimes incomprehensible rulings when it comes to incidents involving a player's well being in their league, and over the weekend we got yet another example of seemingly bizarre priorities from the league.

Following a Friday night game between the Anaheim Ducks and the Arizona Coyotes, the Ducks and their players were outraged after Ducks forward Troy Terry,the team's leading goal scorer, was pummeled by veteran Coyotes forward Jay Beagle in what I can only describe as a one sided beatdown. It was never a fight as Terry failed to throw so much as a single punch and never so much as removed his gloves, but that didn't stop Beagle from delivering some serious punishment to Terry's head and face.

Here's the replay:

Although you could somewhat see the damage down to Terry's face as he was clearly busted open from the blows, we would later learn that Terry's face was in pretty rough shape thanks to a picture that has been widely distributed on social media.

In spite of this it would appear as though the league's Department of Player Safety will not seek any additional discipline against Beagle, not even so much as a fine, with Arizona Coyotes insider Craig Morgan reporting that a source has informed him the league will not investigate the matter any further.

When you compare the Terry/Beagle incident to one that also occurred during this game between Coyotes forward Nick Ritchie and Ducks defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk, the former was far more violent and did far more damage. In spite of that however the very same Department of Player Safety saw fit to suspend Ritchie over his "slashing" of Shattenkirk.

Given how demonstrably angry the Ducks were over this incident, with Ducks star forward Trevor Zegras even calling for Beagle to be "punished" for his actions, I can't imagine they are going to be very happy with how Player Safety has chosen to handle the Terry/Beagle incident.