IT DOESN’T matter what tortured explana tion the NHL office in Toronto offers to justify its lack of action in response to Torrey Mitchell’s hit from behind on Kurtis Foster Wednesday night that sent the Minnesota defenseman flying into the boards on an icing touch-up race.
Despite the fact he used his left glove to leverage Foster into the wall with a shove to his lower back, Mitchell wasn’t assessed either a checking-from-behind or boarding penalty. Instead, he got a two-minute minor for tripping.
And then the next day, with Foster having undergone surgery on the broken left leg he sustained on the play, the league announced it would not suspend Mitchell, with some babble about the collision having occurred on a hockey play.
Of all the utter nonsense! The collision was created by a reckless hockey play. Mitchell had no chance to beat Foster to the puck. This had nothing to do with the merits of the NHL adopting a no-touch icing standard. This, rather, had everything to do with a dangerous check from behind that caused an injury.
This, sadly, had and has everything to do with the NHL office in Toronto having lost its compass and ability to dispense justice under any recognizable or equitable measure. This, sadly, had and has everything to do with the NHL office in Toronto abandoning its mission to protect players from dangerous hits from behind.
Does anyone believe no suspension would have been issued had Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby been the injured party? Does anyone believe Mitchell would not have been suspended if he’d made the same play in a game contested in Toronto, or, otherwise, if someone from the TSN, the league’s TV propaganda outlet, had stopped genuflecting long enough to bring this to public attention?
What has happened to Colin Campbell’s sense of right and wrong on a rink? What has happened to the scales of justice under which early-season suspensions of 20, 25 and 30 games were levied against Steve Downie, Jesse Boulerice and Chris Simon, respectively, for flagrantly dangerous fouls?
Now, a blow to the head is worth three games, as per the sentence handed down a week ago to Georges Laraque for his gratuitous elbow to the jaw that concussed Nathan Paetsch; as per the sentence handed down a week ago to Steve Ott for his leaping shot to the head of Jordan Leopold.
What has happened? Or has Brian Burke happened? Has the Anaheim GM’s in-season complaint that he hadn’t received the league memo about “super suspensions” trumped Campbell’s initial commitment to establishing a meaningful standard of justice that would serve as a deterrent?
Does Burke, the relentlessly macho man with narrow vision, have greater influence with Gary Bettman than NHL Executive VP Campbell? If so, that’s a terrible thing for hockey.
Understand. Mitchell didn’t simply make a hockey play; he made a reckless hockey play that caused an opponent – and possible playoff opponent – to sustain a serious injury. And yet he skated away from the incident, literally and figuratively.
It is obvious the NHL cannot be trusted to dispense equitable justice. It is now up to the NHLPA, through the vehicle of the standing competition committee, to flex its influence. When the competition committee meets this season, it should recommend mandatory minimum sentences for blows to the head and checks from behind, and any other applicable dangerous fouls.
It is clear the NHL has abandoned its responsibility. It would be a disaster if Burke and his ilk are allowed to assume power in this vacuum. This is a league of and by the players. It’s about time that discipline is enacted for the players.
*
Reggie Fleming, the enforcer who became an immediate fan favorite in helping the Rangers establish credibility after Emile Francis assumed control of the franchise in the mid-’60s, could use more of your support now.
Fleming is confined to bed in an assisted-living and rehabilitation center in Illinois, having lost the use of his legs. He has suffered a stoke and multiple heart attacks. He undergoes dialysis every other day.
You can drop Fleming a note or a card, care of: Claremont Rehabilitation and Living Center, PO Box 59274, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089.
*
Meanwhile, PA executive director Paul Kelly will meet with player agents Wednesday in Toronto for the first time since assuming his post with the union. We’re told Bobby Orr is planning to attend an agents’ meeting for the first time since the lockout.
The NHL “One Play” promo featuring Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe and a scored-upon Ken Dryden in an intergenerational 30-second spot that includes 10 current stars plus a couple of anonymous kids playing shinny, is a brilliant piece of work.
Now, the league should build upon that by creating 30 unique spots for the 30 NHL teams that would weave the past and the present into historic franchise rushes up the ice.
Finally, it’s amusing how the Islanders are dislocating their shoulders in patting themselves on the back over the early arrival of Kyle Okposo, but have somehow neglected to mention that it was then-GM Neil Smith who directed the kid’s seventh-overall selection in 2006, isn’t it?