| Shanahan has been busy to start the postseason. (Getty Images) |
I think we can safely say the honeymoon is long, long over for Brendan Shanahan as the league's chief disciplinarian. The playoffs haven't been too good for his office.
It has been downright dirty in almost every series so far and we're not even through the Game 3s yet. It all started with the Shea Weber hit heard 'round the hockey world. Or maybe it should be called the Shea smash. His decision what to do there seemed to be a litmus test, a precedent-setting call for the postseason.
Weber was only fined $2,500. Why was that all that he got? Shanahan explained on New York's WFAN on Monday morning. You can hear the audio of the conversation here.
"I looked at that one and I'm not happy with that play," Shanahan said. "I investigated that hit. I called Detroit that night. I think that [Weber] pushed [Zetterberg's] face in the glass. I was really close to a one-game suspension on that and when I talked to Detroit and I talked to [Ken Holland] he basically said the player was fine."
There you have it, the old injury standard strikes again.
Meanwhile in regards to the Rangers and Senators series, the real reason why Shanny was brought on WFAN in the first place, he explained the two rulings that came out of that series on Sunday. I don't think I'm the only one who was a bit perplexed by Carl Hagelin getting three games while Matt Carkner only received one game.
Silly me, I forgot this part.
"The biggest difference is there is a head injury and concussion on one and no injury on the other," Shanahan explained.
This standard is so absurd and I think I've reached my tipping point on it. Punishing the result is so ridiculous. This is how injuries end up happening, if you leave the line gray.
You can't tell me that what Weber did to Henrik Zetterberg wasn't potentially injurious. Of course it was. The NHL could have squashed the ambiguity like a bug, but it didn't. Somebody else could try a similar move and seriously injure somebody and then they'll get the book thrown at them. That's why I hate this injury standard so much. No, not because of the different penalties for the same act -- although that's awful too -- but because it led to an otherwise mostly preventable injury.
If a play is suspendable, a play is suspendable. I don't understand why that is so difficult of a concept.
Shanahan has said before he doesn't use the injury to determine if there will be discipline, just what the sentencing should be. Not a completely unreasonable standard there, but I guess I don't feel like fining a player fits the bill for punishment. It sure feels to me -- and a lot of Red Wings fans, I'm sure -- that Weber got away with nothing. The difference between a one-game playoff suspension and a $2,500 fine is like comparing a rat to a rhino.
The first few days of the playoffs have looked a lot more like Slap Shot than the best hockey league in the world. Has this been a result of the lack of discipline that was shown in the Weber case, and really for the second half of the season? Probably not much. But it could be nipped in the bud now before it devolves even further.
There is one person who can help change that better than any other. That would require Shanahan to be more preventive and less reactionary.
H/t to Pro Hockey Talk
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