The NHL’s Division of Participant Security simply retains getting issues unsuitable. It did it once more on Saturday when it announced a hearing for Florida Panthers ahead A.J. Greer. That listening to comes after Greer was ejected from Friday’s sport in opposition to the Calgary Flames for a harmful and reckless boarding incident that noticed him ship Connor Zary head-first into the boards.
The problem is just not the listening to itself, however the method by which the listening to shall be performed and what which means for potential self-discipline.
If A.J. Greer is suspended, it won’t be lengthy sufficient
Greer’s listening to on Sunday shall be performed by telephone, which means any potential suspension shall be capped at solely 5 video games.
For a suspension to be longer than 5 video games, the listening to needs to be performed in individual. So, by solely chatting with Greer over the telephone, it means 5 video games is the utmost he’ll obtain. Even when he will get the utmost penalty he can with this listening to, that may nonetheless be removed from.
The NHL’s Division of Participant Security has been coming below elevated criticism in current weeks for a perceived lack of consistency and never doing sufficient to punish harmful and unlawful hits. The loudest calls got here after Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas (a participant who had been suspended 4 earlier occasions in his profession) injured Toronto Maple Leafs celebrity Auston Matthews with a knee-on-knee hit that ended his season.
Gudas acquired a five-game suspension that was known as “preposterous” by Matthews’ agent.
When the NHL’s basic managers met this previous week, the subject of participant security and the job the division is doing was introduced up. It resulted in commissioner Gary Bettman reportedly having an exchange with Carolina Hurricanes basic supervisor Eric Tulsky. Tulsky had spoken up that he agreed with an nameless proprietor who was sad with the league’s dealing with of hits to the top, leading to Bettman reportedly saying, “Effectively, I suppose we all know which proprietor it was.”
If Gudas’ suspension was preposterous, suspending Greer for 5 video games or much less needs to be thought of insulting to the intelligence of everyone watching the NHL.
It was not an occasion of a participant getting caught out of place and making an attempt to make a last-second change of place and catching them with a knee. It was not a participant decreasing their head on the final break up second and leaving a defender ready the place head contact was unavoidable. It was not a blink-of-the-eye play that would not be averted.
This was a participant intentionally giving a two-handed shove behind a defenseless participant and sending them head-first into the boards. It is without doubt one of the most harmful performs that may occur within the sport, and one that’s fully avoidable. There isn’t a excuse for it. There isn’t a motive for it. Greer knew precisely what he was doing and made a deliberate try and ship Zary right down to the ice in a weak place. The truth that Zary was capable of stroll away with out a severe damage is extra luck than anything.
The character of the hit, the truth that Greer has been suspended beforehand in his profession, and the truth that it may have simply resulted in a big head damage (the very kind of accidents that the division was created to assist stop) make something lower than six video games an absolute sham. Which is what all the division has change into. A sham.
