Nine seasons later, the NHL is in need of a second Shanahan Summit.
It is time for the league to convene a second congress as inclusionary and creative as the original December 2004 meeting called for and chaired by Brendan Shanahan, then merely a veteran star player who was spending his time being locked out, and now the ubiquitous star of screen in his post-career job as NHL vice president of the Department of Player Safety.
It is time for representatives from the segments of the league who were accounted for the last time — players, coaches, general managers, owners, agents, on-ice officials and television executives — to review the ramifications on the game’s safety that the new-age rules applications have wrought.
Twenty-six individuals gathered the first time while the league was four months into the shutdown that eventually would lay waste to the entire 2004-05 season, and none had an agenda beyond improving what had become a stale product.
We know what they did — and, yes, by the way, John Tortorella, then-coach of the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning, was the first individual to respond affirmatively to the invite from Shanahan — in opening up the game that’s arteries had become as clogged as an individual about to be struck down by a heart attack.
The rules package that featured eliminating the red line; instituting a zero-tolerance standard for interference and obstruction fouls such as hooking and holding; and introduction of the trapezoid that restricted goaltenders’ freedom to play the puck and combat the forecheck. They created a faster game and, for the most part, a more entertaining product.
But in the wake of a cavalcade of frightening incidents and increasing awareness of the ramifications of the kill-shots that have become an NHL staple, the critical questions are, a) whether and to what degree the rules changes have contributed to the increased danger these remarkable athletes face whenever they’re on the ice; and b), if so, what can the league do to reduce the peril?
Bobby Orr submits the red line should be reinstituted. By all means, reserve a seat at the table for No. 4, who, despite his post-career life as a player agent, operates without an agenda beyond advocating what’s best for the game (and the young people who play it).
That’s the critical component of what would be required of the participants in the summit — no agenda. The joint player-management competition committee that was borne out of the ’04-05 lockout and was meant to be a regulatory body has failed in its duty, as it too often has broken down into just another us-against-them forum.
Players are going to continue to get bigger and faster. Collisions are going to continue to occur at greater force and create greater destruction. No, this is not figure skating, to coin a phrase, but neither is this a fight to the death.
Suspensions of the lengths that have become standard do not change behavior. Perhaps there is a threshold through which recidivists such as Matt Cooke pass with counsel from their teams, but no one can credibly submit that the cost of Marc Savard’s career and future well-being is an equitable price to pay for the one-time Penguin’s behavioral modification.
What can be done? Should the league re-adopt the red line? Should the trapezoid come out, so goaltenders have the opportunity to spare defensemen punishment? Should we allow the bear-hug, as Brian Burke has suggested, and should we allow subtle obstruction of the first forechecker, and if so, what would be the ripple effects?
The hockey calendar never stops and there isn’t time to wait until the next lengthy lockout. The window must be created that would allow representatives from all phases of the industry to convene and offer their solutions to what has become a growing, critical problem that threatens the sport’s credibility and sustainability: player safety.
If there is no time, the NHL must make time. It is time for Shanahan Summit II.
It seems inexplicable, but Slap Shots has heard continued chatter about the Canadiens’ willingness to trade Max Pacioretty, the 25-year-old winger who apparently isn’t Michel Therrien’s ideal.
Of course the Rangers are interested, but unless the Blueshirts are willing to re-gift Montreal with Ryan McDonagh (and they’re not dealing McDonagh, one of the most untradeable players in the league), there is little reason to believe the clubs have a match, and no, the Habs don’t seem to be a potential landing spot for Michael Del Zotto.
We’re told the Islanders and Flyers are taking serious runs at Pacioretty, who has a club-friendly contract worth $4.5 million per that runs through 2018-19, but Montreal GM Marc Bergevin isn’t prone to dealing him in the East — if he’s willing to deal him at all after the roster freeze melts after Friday night’s games.
The problem with David Clarkson isn’t with the player, but with the folks in Toronto (and anywhere else) who projected the winger would become a $5.25M player just because he signed a seven-year free-agent contract worth an average of $5.25M per.
See: Holik, Robert in New York for a precedent.
When all the back-slapping for Tom Wilson stopped in Washington, did someone in the Capitals’ organization counsel the young winger to expect an elbow in the mouth if he continues to run people in vulnerable positions the way he did Brayden Schenn (and Chris Kreider 10 days before that)?
That, more than a suspension, will alter anyone’s behavior.