If Eric Lindros held a position of power within the NHL Players Association, does anyone for a moment believe the union would remain mum on the dominant issue of the season, that of player safety?
Does anyone believe the NHLPA would stand for the lenient sentences leveled by the league against headhunting concussion-inducing miscreants if a player whose career was destroyed by a series of brain injuries was there to present a case for victims’ rights and safety in the workplace on a daily basis?
Instead there is silence, the silence of the lambs of the NHLPA.
There is no other issue at the moment for the union other than this one. Why can’t advisor Donald Fehr actually advise the players on the critical nature of safety in the workplace? Or maybe the former executive director of the MLBPA thinks the long-terms effects of concussions are as benign as the long-terms effects of taking steroids.
It is unmistakable following a series of two-game suspensions for hits to the head — the latest to Phoenix’s Ed Jovanovski for concussing Minnesota’s Andrew Ebbett, two years after he got one game for going upside the head of Marian Gaborik — that the league’s so-called administration of justice is no deterrent whatsoever.
It is also unmistakable that the leniency comes with the imprimatur of Gary Bettman, for there is nothing in this NHL that does not fall under the commissioner’s control, off and on the ice.
When Bettman wanted two referees to work games rather than one, he got them.
When Bettman wanted officials to ignore blatant obstruction and interference, as he did for the decade heading into the 2004-05 lockout, in order to better allow small-market, low-revenue teams to compete with big spenders (and to keep down the scoring totals of players eligible for arbitration), they ignored it.
When Bettman wanted to open up the game following the imposition, uh negotiation, of a hard salary cap, the league instituted rules to that effect.
If Bettman wanted strict suspensions imposed for hits to the head that cause career-threatening and life-altering brain injuries, believe me, Colin Campbell would impose them.
When the Board of Governors convenes this week, VP Campbell and deputy commissioner Bill Daly are scheduled to make presentations regarding hits to the head and concussion-related issues.
But if the league is serious about protecting its players, and if the owners are serious about protecting their investments in their elite players, Bettman and the Board should instruct Campbell to immediately begin imposing double-digit suspensions as the mandatory minimum sentence for any and all illegal hits to the head.
That would stop the rash of head shots. The Board could stop it. Bettman could stop it and protect the players. But then, as Benjamin Franklin famously pronounced, God helps those who help themselves.
*Final Jeopardy Answer: No penalties were called on the plays.
Final Jeopardy Question: What do the suspensions issued Jovanovski, Curtis Glencross and Daniel Briere for hits to the head have in common?
*Now as to the farcical movement led by the league’s Hockey Operations Department to change/update the names of the historical trophies awarded at the end of each season, since no one extant can tell you exactly what a “Red Wing” is, why doesn’t the franchise change its name to the Detroit Yzermans, so the younger folks can identify?
Slap Shots asked Daly via e-mail earlier this week just what the mechanism would be employed to change the name of the trophy awarded to the league’s best defenseman from the Norris to the Bobby Orr, as just one example?
Could it be accomplished by a decree from the commissioner? Slap Shots also inquired whether the subject is on this week’s Board agenda.
“It is not an issue that’s on the agenda or even ‘front-burner,’ for that matter,” Daly replied. “I haven’t even looked at what would be required pursuant to League Rules to effectuate such a change but I’m quite sure that as a matter of practice, Gary would definitely bring the issue to the broader Board for consideration and action before implementing.”
*How is it the Devils hierarchy has been so historically perceptive on so many issues but has this habitual blind spot regarding the rest required for Martin Brodeur to be at his best in the playoffs?
How is it that even Jacques Lemaire, brilliant behind the bench in his encore just as he was upon first taking the job in 1993, cannot seem to find it in himself to give the Great Brodeur the necessary time to rest and replenish — and in an Olympic year, no less?
Brandon Dubinsky has replaced Steve Valiquette as the Rangers’ player rep, and it is very good news for the union to have someone so young be so interested; even better that this young interested athlete is never afraid to express an opinion, even an unpopular one.
Introducing the Phoenix Jets.
News: Bill McCreary selected as a referee for Olympics. Views: Just goes to prove the old adage that you can fool some people all of the time.