NEW YORK – In the NHL, justice delayed is rarely justice denied. On the contrary, it almost always results in a severe penalty.

That is why, although cries for swift punishment for Chris Simon were loud and plentiful on Friday, the one-day delay in NHL VP Colin Campbell handing down a decision – it is expected to come Saturday – means that the Islanders’ winger will be hammered hard for swinging his stick into the face of Rangers forward Ryan Hollweg on Thursday night.

Not only won’t Simon get to play in any of the Islanders’ 15 remaining regular-season games, but it is almost certain he’ll be suspended for several potential playoff games as well.

And that could be the least of Simon’s problems. The Nassau County District Attorney has not ruled out pressing charges pending a review of the tape of Thursday night’s game at Nassau Coliseum.

Hollweg practiced on Friday and is expected to play Saturday at Pittsburgh. He somehow suffered no more than a gash to his chin despite remaining motionless on the ice for an extended period and later saying he had lost hearing for nearly a minute. And Hollweg brushed off discussion of a suspension for Simon on Thursday night, even saying, “As far as I’m concerned, we’re square – we won the game.”

Campbell won’t be as forgiving.

The NHL announced Friday morning that Simon had been “suspended indefinitely without pay, pending a hearing,” for being assessed a match penalty for deliberate attempt to injure with 6:31 left in the game.

Contacted on Friday at his Toronto office, Campbell told the New York Daily News that the reason for the delay in specifying the length of the suspension was “to have an in-person hearing” that could not be convened Friday. Such hearings are usually held over the phone, except in cases where lengthy suspensions are being considered.

One reason Simon was said to be unable to meet with Campbell on Friday was that he was being examined by doctors for an apparent head injury that might have been suffered when he was checked by Hollweg and banged awkwardly into the glass moments before retaliating with his stick swing.

While Campbell would not say exactly when he will meet with Simon, The News has learned that the hearing will take place Friday in New York. Expect Campbell’s decision to be rendered soon after, with the Islanders losing a key player.

Asked if he felt the league needed to make a statement through the severity of the suspension, Campbell replied: “No.”

He also rejected the notion that settling the matter Friday was important so that the NHL could get beyond the critical discussion of the game – particularly in non-hockey circles.

One of the factors Campbell takes into account when determining suspension lengths is a player’s past record. Simon, a 35-year-old product of Ontario who played one season with the Rangers and has 1,765 penalty minutes in 744 games to go with 143 goals and 159 assists, has been suspended three previous times for on-ice infractions.

In 1997, he was banned for three games for uttering a racial slur during an altercation with Mike Grier, who is black. In 2004, while with the Rangers, he was suspended for two games for cross-checking Tampa Bay’s Ruslan Fedotenko.

Later that year, after being traded to Calgary, Simon was banned for two more games for kneeing Dallas’ Sergei Zubov.

Should Simon be banned for the remainder of the regular season, it would be the longest suspension meted out by the NHL since Todd Bertuzzi jumped Steve Moore from behind three years ago this month. The NHL reinstated Bertuzzi 17 months later in August 2005.