There is a new Sheriff in Town - Gonna be some changes ya hear.
Warden Shanahan and the coming of a more transparent age | Posted Sports | National Post
In the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, Brendan Shanahan hit an opposing Russian player in the face with his stick. The force of the blow broke his cheekbone.
The star forward for Team Canada was given a one-game suspension.
The Shanahan Era is notable first for the way in which it has taken the NHL’s traditionally soft approach to justice, in which disciplinarians sounded like defence lawyers speaking on behalf of clients as they explained the reasons for another one- or two-game suspension, and turned it on its ear. Amid increasing evidence of the long-term effects of concussions and after a season in which the game’s most visible star, Sidney Crosby, missed half the year following two shots to the head, Mr. Shanahan has decided that by handing down strong punishment he will force the players to adjust the way they play the game.
Including a five-game suspension given to Brendan Smith of the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, Mr. Shanahan has already suspended eight players for a total of 29 regular-season games. In 2010-11, on Mr. Campbell’s watch, it took until Dec. 29 before the 29-game total was reached for suspensions relating to player-on-player contact. Those covered 15 separate incidents, or about two games per suspension. Mr. Shanahan, before regular-season play has even begun, has already handed out three five-game suspensions and an eight-game suspension.
It’s the videos, though, that mark the clearest departure from the Campbell way of doing things. If there was one overaching criticism of the old procedure, it’s that the punishments were inconsistent — and the league’s limited explanation for its decisions only clouded the picture further. Mr. Shanahan, meanwhile, has embraced disclosure. His suspension videos, posted on the NHL’s website, begin with the kind of stilted introduction you might expect from a rugged goal scorer: “I’m Brendan Shanahan, the National Hockey League’s senior vice-president of player safety.” He certainly isn’t Peter Mansbridge.
He then describes the incident, and provides the video evidence. On Friday, this showed Brendan Smith hitting Chicago’s Ben Smith squarely in the chin with his shoulder as the latter tried to skate by him. Ben Smith crumpled to the ice, unconscious. Mr. Shanahan described the hit as a violation of the NHL’s newly toughened Rule 48 that covers hits to the head. A graphic on screen noted that “a hit resulting in contact with the opponent’s head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted.”
Warden Shanahan and the coming of a more transparent age | Posted Sports | National Post
In the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, Brendan Shanahan hit an opposing Russian player in the face with his stick. The force of the blow broke his cheekbone.
The star forward for Team Canada was given a one-game suspension.
The Shanahan Era is notable first for the way in which it has taken the NHL’s traditionally soft approach to justice, in which disciplinarians sounded like defence lawyers speaking on behalf of clients as they explained the reasons for another one- or two-game suspension, and turned it on its ear. Amid increasing evidence of the long-term effects of concussions and after a season in which the game’s most visible star, Sidney Crosby, missed half the year following two shots to the head, Mr. Shanahan has decided that by handing down strong punishment he will force the players to adjust the way they play the game.
Including a five-game suspension given to Brendan Smith of the Detroit Red Wings on Friday, Mr. Shanahan has already suspended eight players for a total of 29 regular-season games. In 2010-11, on Mr. Campbell’s watch, it took until Dec. 29 before the 29-game total was reached for suspensions relating to player-on-player contact. Those covered 15 separate incidents, or about two games per suspension. Mr. Shanahan, before regular-season play has even begun, has already handed out three five-game suspensions and an eight-game suspension.
It’s the videos, though, that mark the clearest departure from the Campbell way of doing things. If there was one overaching criticism of the old procedure, it’s that the punishments were inconsistent — and the league’s limited explanation for its decisions only clouded the picture further. Mr. Shanahan, meanwhile, has embraced disclosure. His suspension videos, posted on the NHL’s website, begin with the kind of stilted introduction you might expect from a rugged goal scorer: “I’m Brendan Shanahan, the National Hockey League’s senior vice-president of player safety.” He certainly isn’t Peter Mansbridge.
He then describes the incident, and provides the video evidence. On Friday, this showed Brendan Smith hitting Chicago’s Ben Smith squarely in the chin with his shoulder as the latter tried to skate by him. Ben Smith crumpled to the ice, unconscious. Mr. Shanahan described the hit as a violation of the NHL’s newly toughened Rule 48 that covers hits to the head. A graphic on screen noted that “a hit resulting in contact with the opponent’s head where the head is targeted and the principal point of contact is not permitted.”