Today In NHL History - Ted Leonsis Attacks Fan

On January 25th in 2004, Washington Capitals owner and AOL executive Ted Leonsis attacked season ticket holder Jason Hammer, grabbing his neck and throwing him to the ground, in response to the fan's game long heckling and insulting sign "Caps Hockey; AOL Stock -- See a Pattern?".

Embarrassed by the outburst Leonsis apologized to Hammer the next day and the pair agreed to move past the melee. Weeks later Hammer (second from left) was seen enjoying a home game with Leonsis.
NHL Commissioner Bettman was less forgiving electing to suspend Leonsis for one week and fine the Capitals $100,000, noting "Even in those cases when there were instances of alleged provocation, we have made it clear that NHL personnel need to do everything possible to avoid a confrontation with fans and the failure to do so is not acceptable."

Philadelphia beat Washington that night by a score of 4-1. It was the Capitals first home game since trading away superstar Jaromir Jagr.

That's today in NHL history.