MONTREAL, QC.– You know and I know it. The NHL has an urgent problem concerning head shots and violence. Major sponsors like Air Canada and VIA Rail recognize the seriousness of the issue too.
Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, General Counsel for VIA, stated “the NHL seems unable to take appropriate measures to protect the physical integrity of its players.”
One owner, the Canadiens Geoff Molson, demanded quick action saying that, “Players’ safety in hockey must become the ultimate priority and the situation must be addressed immediately.”
On Monday, Commissioner Gary Bettman, tabled the league’s response to the outcry from its constituents. Upon first look at Bettman’s document, it’s nothing more than a box of Cracker Jacks. After getting through the sweet-flavoured caramel-coated popcorn, there was nothing of great value underneath.
“There’s no one single thing causing concussions,” said Bettman. “There is no magic bullet to deal with this. I know that it’s an emotional, intense subject, particularly for our fans. We get it.”
No, you don’t get it. That’s apparent from reading the plan.
“You really have to understand what’s going on,” concluded Bettman.
We do, commissioner. Many of us do. We only wish that you were keeping up.
It would appear that the NHL’s five-step plan was little more than a damage control exercise to help calm angry fans and nervous sponsors. The tension has been growing around the league after a series of damaging blows where the punishment (little or none) didn’t fit the crime. That tension was elevated to a fever pitch after Zdeno Chara’s vicious hit on Max Pacioretty was brushed aside by the NHL disciplinarians.
I agree with those who contend that a single event shouldn’t necessarily drive major policy change. The other side of the coin is that the league is using their five-step plan as a proof that they acted correctly in the decision not to suspend Chara. There’s nothing in the plan set out by Bettman that would counteract the Chara ruling in anyway.
If the five-step plan was in place prior to the incident, Pacioretty would still be injured and Chara would still get away scott-free.
It has been carefully crafted to ensure that the finger of blame is pointed away from the NHL offices. Changes exist for everyone but the league themselves. And it is within Bettman’s cabal and their interpretations of the rules, that major problems exist.
Let’s take a look at what the NHL is saying (I’ll paraphrase):
- Make modifications to that bad equipment.
- Fix those bad arenas.
- Fine those bad coaches and team owners who keep employing and sending out goons.
- Get the doctors away from those bad athletic therapists who put the team’s interests ahead of the player’s safety.
- And finally, we haven’t quite figured this all out yet. So we will put together a panel to study the issues.
As I argued in “Blame it on the Rink“, the league is bent on avoiding measures to deter bad behaviour. They are also reluctant to blame problems on incompetent staff like Colin Campbell and faulty disciplinary procedures.
It is incumbent upon the NHL to institute rules to protect their players from career-threatening and life-threatening injuries. This will only result if substantial disciplinary measures are in place and are applied in a consistent manner. Currently deterence is completely absent in the process.
What Bettman announced today was new and shiny. Unfortunately the measures will have little meaningful impact on a problem that gets closer to producing a fatality everyday.
For more reading on this topic, see the companion piece by Kristina Ashqar titled “Bettman’s 5-Step Plan: Isn’t it Missing Something?”
(photo by Getty)
There’s no doubt to me that this was done solely to ease tensions among sponsors.Now they have a nice 5-step plan that they can point to and say that they put it in place the very same day the GM meetings started. Everyone high-fives each other, the sponsors retreat and the NHL wins.
That Bettman is a clever rat, isn’t he?
It’s immediately evident to anyone paying attention that this policy changes nothing, and won’t curb a single thing.
It’s also immediately evident that the league has zero interest in addressing the real issue at hand, which is, of course, out of control players and an appaling lack of respect.
But hey, since they’re all together, they may as well create another committee and slap a “blue ribbon” moniker on it. That way people will know they’re serious!
Let’s see if we can follow Gary and his cronies down their rabbit hole:
• Head shots cannot be banned outright because then players will change the way they play, and hockey will lose its intense physical edge.
• If you ban all headshots, that must also mean that fights must be banned, and that can’t happen because then incidents of cheapshots and stickwork will increase since players can’t keep each other in check.
• So by implementing rules that get rid of, or at least make violence very unnattractive, you actually make the game more dangerous?
What?
Wouldn’t all that become untrue if there was a strong suspension policy for those who broke the rules? Theoretically, yes. But it’s awfully hard to enforce when those who mete out the discipline are corrupt, and bereft of any obligation to do what’s right for the game.
Max Pacioretty has more strength in his broken neck than the entire executive of the NHL has in all of their spines combined.
Here’s some simple ideas.
1. Any player that’s penalized on a hit that causes an injury gets an immediate game misconduct and ejected. (This should already be in place.)
2. If the player doesn’t return to the game, it’s an automatic two-game suspension.
3. Hits that are illegal even if the player has the puck (boarding, charging, hitting from behind, blindsides, etc.) are also an automatic suspension, regardless of injury.
4. If a player is injured by one of the hits in 3, then the suspension stacks with 2.
5. The suspension may increase based on the severity of the injury, history between the two players or teams involved, and the offending player’s previous disciplinary history.
Standardize the punishments, and move “intent” out of whether the hit is suspendable and towards whether the hit deserves additional discipline, and you’ll go a long way towards, if not cleaning up the game, then at least cleaning up perception of the game. If your speeding car skids into a pedestrian, you’re responsible regardless of intent, but intent changes the severity of the punishment. Players should be accountable for their actions on the ice in the same way, with intent altering the severity of the punishment, not determining whether or not they’re accountable at all.
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