Is Shanahan Sending The Wrong Message?

A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about the inconsistency that has started to slip into Brendan Shanahan's decision making. Calls were being missed, and people were beginning to wonder if the Department of Player Safety was being pulled back to the days of Colin Campbell. However, like all things, the pressure of the playoffs intensifies all of his decisions, and things seem to be regressing even further.



First was Boston Bruin's defenseman Andrew Ference, who received a one game ban for an elbow to the head of Mikhael Grabovski. Ference is a repeat offender (also suspended in January 2012 for three games) and the head was the principle point of contact, so one game was an appropriate penalty and an easy call for Shanahan to make. Then came an incident during the Penguins/Islanders game where Marty Reasoner stuck out his knee and nailed Jussi Jokinen in the leg, knocking him from the game. Though the play was clearly dangerous and reckless, it went ignored by the Department of Player Safety.

Now fast forward to last night. Senator Eric Gryba nails Lars Eller with a huge open ice hit that left Eller bloody on the ice. Though the head certainly received contact, it wasn't the principle point of contact, which the DOPS has been very clear can make the difference between a suspension or not. Yet, Gryba got a two game ban for a hit that many around the hockey world saw as a good, clean hockey hit. Then in a game later that night, the King's captain Dustin Brown hits St. Louis' Jaden Schwartz with an obvious knee on knee and attempted elbow. Again, like Reasoner, no response at all from Shanahan on what may have been the dirtiest play so far.

One aspect of Shanahan's decision making that should be brought into question is how he tends to punish according to the injury just as much as the play itself. If Grabovski suffers a concussion, does Ference get two games or more? Does the fact Jokinen was on the ice the day after mitigate what Reasoner did? If Eller bounces right back up, does the Gryba hit get any attention at all?

It appears that Shanahan is far more concerned with sending a message with the Gryba ban than being clear and concise in his decisions .Shanahan has long said he's trying to change the way players approach the game, especially in regards to hitting. There's nothing wrong about that, as the culture must change for the NHL to be safer for all it's players. But he's never going to gain any traction if one play gets a ban and another does not. If he truly wants to change the league, he can't go back to Campbell's ambiguous decision making and must be strictly by the book. Otherwise, how are the players, the fans or anybody really to know what is acceptable and what isn't? What are we to expect to happen next time? These are the questions Shanahan was brought in to answer, not incite.