March 25, 2012, notes column for HockeyPrimeTime.com

NHL punishments allow perps to commit crimes

Columns
	Written by Denis Gorman
Saturday, March 24, 2012 19:23
Last year, there was a changing of the guard in the NHL's Department of Player Safety as Brendan Shanahan replaced Colin Campbell with the assignment of cleaning up the NHL. So far it is not going well as unsafe hits barely get the necessary punishment.    The mandate given to Brendan Shanahan when he replaced Colin Campbell as the Vice President of the Department of Player Safety last June was to clean up the NHL. One year into his job and the league is still a mess. The NHL’s lip service as it pertains to player safety came to the forefront once again last week when the Phoenix Coyotes’ Shane Doan (three games) and the Chicago Blackhawks’ Duncan Keith (five games) were barely punished for elbowing incidents against Dallas Stars left wing Jamie Benn and Vancouver Canucks left wing Daniel Sedin. Doan elbowed Benn in the side of the head during the second period of Dallas’ 4-3 shootout win over Phoenix Tuesday while Keith elbowed Sedin in the face during the first period of the Blackhawks’ 2-1 overtime win Wednesday night. Neither Benn or Sedin had control of the puck at the time of the incidents. Doan said he “accepted” the league’s decision. Keith said he “respected” the ruling. How magnanimous of them. Both Doan and Keith will return to the Coyotes and Blackhawks before the regular season ends. As such, their Acts of Contrition are painless. They will have opportunities to help their employers qualify for the playoffs. Perhaps if the league allowed its Department of Player Safety to punish perpetrators and their employers, then the elimination of intentional and predatory hits might actually occur. According to USA Today’s NHL Suspension Tracker, the Department of Player Safety has handed down 41 suspensions during the regular season that cost players 132 games and $2.5 million in lost wages. That works out to an average of 3.2 games lost and $60,975 per suspension. The punishments have not stopped players from targeting their brethren for unconscionable acts of violence. Nor has it caused their employers to demand those in their employ to eradicate predatory behavior from their skill sets. There is no need for players and their organizations to change deeds and policies. But what would happen if the NHL had suspended Doan and Keith for the remainder of the regular season and the playoffs, and the Coyotes and Blackhawks were fined substantially?     Why then, the impetus for meaningful and lasting change would have been implemented. ***** Come this May 2, it will be exactly 45 years since the Toronto Maple Leafs could last call themselves Stanley Cup Champions. For a franchise whose DNA is woven into that of the NHL’s, it has been an unacceptably long 16,437 days since the night George Armstrong accepted the Stanley Cup at the Maple Leaf Gardens.   Nevertheless, the drought will not end anytime soon. The Leafs are 33-34-9 after losing Saturday night’s Hockey Night in Canada match against the New York Rangers. The Leafs are 12th in the East, nine points behind eighth-seeded Buffalo and appear earmarked to missing the playoffs for the seventh straight spring. Fans booed the Leafs and called for General Manager Brian Burke’s ouster during Tuesday night’s 5-2 loss to the New York Islanders at the Air Canada Center. That indignity occurred a night after a humiliating 8-0 loss to the Boston Bruins at TD Garden. The Leafs managed just 13 shots on goal in Boston. “Very much so. Very, very much so,” coach Randy Carlyle said following Tuesday night’s loss when asked if his team’s confidence was fragile. Toronto’s flaws are manifold and it will take time to mend the Original Six franchise. Burke and Carlyle (4-6-1 since replacing Ron Wilson) favor a rambunctious style of play for which the forwards that populate the Leafs’ roster are ill-suited. The defense corps often appears indecisive as to when to and when not to jump into the play. Couple that with a penchant for getting out of position when attempting highlight reel hits and it is a formula for failure. Finally, the Leafs have lacked quality goaltending since Ed Belfour manned the crease in 2003-04 (34-19-6; 2.13 goals-against average; .918 save percentage). Rebuilding on the fly will be difficult as the Leafs already have $59.4 million in guaranteed salaries for next season. The athletes that could bring back pieces in a trade that allow Burke and Carlyle to rebuild the franchise are the same that the Leafs are building around. For those tasked with bringing the Cup to a metropolitan area that refers to itself as “The Centre of the Hockey Universe,” the undertaking has been and will continue to be Sisyphean.   ***** Who wouldn’t want to see a seven-game playoff series between the Rangers and New Jersey Devils after what has transpired between the Atlantic Division rivals this season? You can follow us on Twitter @HockeyPrimeTime and @DenisGorman	Photo by Getty Images
			Last Updated on Sunday, March 25, 2012 16:08

http://www.hockeyprimetime.com/news/columns/nhl-punishments-allow-perps-to-commit-crimes