NHL superstar calls out the NHL for handling of suspensions in previous seasons, would like to see changes made
With another season quickly approaching, I'm sure we're all eagerly awaiting puck drop on opening night and a fresh slate for our respective teams. However, as with any season, there are some things that we maybe aren't looking forward to as much, such as spotty officiating and questionable player safety decisions.
Officiating and Player Safety are two subjects that have become very hot topics in recent years. The fans are frustrated, the players are frustrated, the coaches are frustrated, but I'm certain that there won't be any substantial changes at this point, which only adds to the frustration.
During Friday's edition of 32 Thoughts, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek had the opportunity to sit down with Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and one of the questions Marek had asked him is whether or not there was anything about the current game that confuses him, his teammates and other NHL players. Crosby knew his answer immediate and did not hesitate for even a second before he responded.
"I would say maybe just suspensions... it's still something where you see a highlight, you see a clip and you don't know the range of the suspension. You don't know whether it's going to be a suspension or not. That's how I feel. I know it's not an easy job for anybody, but I still feel like there's a bit of a grey area there and I don't think anyone's ever going to agree on length or that sort of thing or what the intentions were on a play. That's always going to be debatable, but I'd like to think that we can get a little bit closer to what it is, exactly, and maybe what the punishment is." - Crosby on the number one issue for him in the current NHL
This is 100% identifiable. There's not a season that goes by where I'm not puzzled by a decision made by George Parros, the head of the NHL's Department of Player Safety. There's absolutely zero consistency from Player Safety, which can be absolutely infuriating.
Year in and year out, we see 2 or 3 of the same plays occur, with one resulting in a suspension, one resulting in a fine, and one not drawing any form of supplemental discipline at all.
I still go back to the Jason Spezza suspension from a few seasons ago, when a veteran of 1,200 NHL games, who had never been suspended or fined in his entire career, was suspended 6 games for a retaliation hit on Winnipeg's Neal Pionk after Pionk ran Rasmus Sandin knee-on-knee causing an injury. If memory serves me correctly, Pionk was issued a 2 or 3-game suspension for the hit that took Sandin out of action for several weeks, while Pionk himself was not injured as a result of Spezza's hit, which landed the veteran a suspension that doubled or tripled the length of Pionk's. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
At any rate, Crosby, like many others, would like for the league to clean things up in terms of how suspensions are handed out and a more clearly defined set of rules and guidelines implemented to ensure consistency. It's hard to disagree with him there.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 16 | 79 ANSWERS NHL superstar calls out the NHL for handling of suspensions in previous seasons, would like to see changes made Do you agree with Crosby that the NHL needs to make changes to how it deals with suspensions? | ||
| Yes, definitely | 74 | 93.7 % |
| No, it's fine the way it is | 0 | 0 % |
| It's tough because every play is different | 5 | 6.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
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