updated 11:19 p.m. ET March 11, 2007

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - If Chris Simon plays again for the New York Islanders, or for anyone else in the NHL, it won’t be until next season.

And it might not even be on opening night.

The NHL hit back hard Sunday, suspending the rugged Islanders forward for a league-record 25 games. Simon will miss the rest of the regular season and playoffs as punishment for his two-handed stick attack to the face of Ryan Hollweg of the New York Rangers in a 2-1 loss Thursday night.

Simon will miss the Islanders’ final 15 regular-season contests and the entire postseason, if the club gets that far. If the team plays fewer than 10 playoff games this year, the suspension will carry over to next season.

“I think what he got was pretty much expected around the league and by everybody else,” Hollweg said Sunday after the Rangers’ 2-1 win over Carolina. “What’s done is done. The league has made its decision and it’s time to move forward now. I think it’s fair.”

The ban is the longest in terms of games missed in NHL history. Marty McSorley was suspended 23 games in February 2000 for knocking out Donald Brashear with a stick-swinging hit. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman stretched that punishment to one year, and McSorley never played in the league again.

Simon’s one-year deal with the Islanders will run out before he is eligible to play again. He can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Based on Simon’s $1 million contract, he will lose at least $80,200 because of the suspension.

“The National Hockey League will not accept the use of a stick in the manner and fashion in which Mr. Simon used his,” league disciplinarian Colin Campbell said in a statement. “As a consequence of his actions, Mr. Simon has forfeited the privilege of playing in an NHL game again this season, regardless of how many games the Islanders ultimately play.”

The Islanders are seventh in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Rangers and Carolina at the playoff cutoff. If the Islanders go the distance in all four rounds of best-of-seven series, Simon would miss a total of 43 games.

Simon put on his Islanders jersey for the last time this season Friday for a team picture.

“I want to apologize to my team and Islanders fans everywhere,” Simon said in a statement released Saturday night during the first game of the suspension. “My actions Thursday night played a major part in our team losing a crucial game. I also want to apologize to the National Hockey League for the damage I have caused this great game of ours.”

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Campbell announced the punishment one day after a hearing at the league office in New York. Simon was banned indefinitely Friday, following his vicious hit in retaliation for a hard check by Hollweg.

This is Simon’s sixth NHL suspension and the league’s longest since Vancouver’s Todd Bertuzzi was sidelined 13 regular-season games and seven in the playoffs for his blindside punch to the head of Colorado’s Steve Moore in March 2004. Bertuzzi wasn’t reinstated until 17 months later, after the yearlong lockout.

Along with McSorley, Tampa Bay’s Gordie Dwyer received a 23-game suspension in September 2000 for abusing officials and coming out of the penalty box to fight in an exhibition game against Washington.

“There is absolutely no place in hockey for what I did,” Simon said.

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