The topic of suspensions has been one of the biggest issues in the league for the past couple of years, and there always seems to be dissatisfaction with the way each suspension is handled. Most of the commentary revolves around how the suspensions handed out aren't severe enough, especially if a player is injured, or that they're inconsistent. I have an idea on how to possibly solve at least one of those problems, and I was wondering what the rest of r/hockey thought:

So, you want suspensions to hurt more? OK. In addition to a player getting suspended, a roster spot is also suspended. So, let's say a player gets suspended 3 games: that team loses the right to dress a player in that roster spot for 3 games; instead of being able to dress 18 skaters, they can only dress 17 (or less, depending on how many players are suspended) for the duration of the suspension(s). That would discourage teams from employing notoriously dirty players, especially if they are terrible/replaceable.

Example: Jody Shelley (who, according to Mike Rupp, is "irrelevant") takes a run at Evgeni Malkin, the best forward in the league right now, in a blowout game between two intense division rivals; Shelley hits Malkin from behind into the boards and targets the head. Malkin is injured on the play, and is out indefinitely with a concussion. Shanaban drops the hammer and gives Shelly a well-deserved 30-game suspension. However, Malkin is out on the IR for the rest of the season, and we don't even know if he'll be the same player when he returns. Well, big deal for the Flyers. They lose a scrub, who is easily replaceable and gets minimal ice time (and is regularly a healthy scratch, anyway), for a good portion of the regular season. Additionally, the Flyers are only paying him $1.1M per year, which means they would essentially be paying the NHL Players Emergency Fund somewhere around $400K for Shelly's actions. Big loss, right? Now on the other hand, the Penguins lose their best player for the rest of the season and fall out of playoff contention while the Flyers easily maintain the 4th spot in the Conference, as the loss of Shelley doesn't really have any effect on the team.

But what if the suspension actually means something? In addition to Shelley sitting 30 games, the Flyers can only dress 17 skaters for those 30 games (while having the suspended player count against the salary cap). Any more suspensions, and they can only dress 16, 15, and so on (maybe there would be a limit on how many roster spots a team can lose, or how long they lose that roster spot for). That would really hurt the team, or at least much more so than only losing a scrub for a good portion of the season. Players (especially talent-less goons) would really think twice about taking runs at others AND teams would think twice about signing notably dirty players, as they wouldn't want to risk dressing a player who doesn't contribute much but is prone to significantly hurt the team.

Right now, it just seems like suspensions hurt the offending players (lose money and the opportunity to pad their stats and can't play the game) more than they do the team that employs them; most players, especially those that are prone to making suspension-worthy plays, are replaceable, and it's the team on the receiving end of the play that's usually hurt more because of an injury. Losing man power for entire games would really hurt the teams.

It's a little long, but thoughts?