"The full ruling,
available here, is incredibly detailed. While Bettman calls Hartman’s recent track record of suspensions (four within the last 22 months) “
an unenviable record and a pattern of malfeasance,” he did agree with the NHLPA’s assertion that an increase of seven games from Hartman’s most recent discipline “
is excessive in this case and that the quantum of increase should be reduced.”
So what he's saying is that his buddy grossly screwed up in not increasing the number of games Hartman was suspended each time in that short time frame of four suspensions in less than 2 years. Imagine if real world sentences worked that way - 'Jimmy was caught stealing from the store three times in the last couple of years, and he was given a total of 3 days in jail. He now just murdered 73 people, but we can't increase his sentence too much as the quantum of increase can't be too much.'