BOSTON - NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy met with the media soon after he suspended Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome for his late hit on Boston's Nathan Horton, explaining his rationale behind the four-game ban.
Rome was assessed a five-minute major penalty for interference and game misconduct at 5:07 of the first period after hitting Horton almost a full second after Horton had made a pass to teammate Milan Lucic. Horton, who was stretchered off the ice after the hit at the Vancouver blue line, suffered a severe concussion on the hit and was kept overnight at Mass General Hospital.
Horton was released from the hospital Tuesday, right around the time the Bruins announced Horton won't play again in this series because of the concussion.
In his comments to the media, Murphy addressed the hit itself, explained why it doesn't fall under the parameters of the recently instituted Rule 48, which governs blind-side hits to the head, and promised that on-ice officials will more heavily police the chippy play that has dominated stretches of the first three games.
Here is a full transcript of Murphy's press conference Tuesday.
Q. Mike, can you walk us through the hit, the way you viewed it when you slowed it down and watched it in real-time. Do you think it was blindside or not?
MIKE MURPHY: I probably viewed it like most of you did. I thought it was a late hit. I thought that the body was contacted. But I also thought that the head was hit.
It caused a serious injury to Nathan Horton. So the key components are: the late hit, which I had it close to a second late. We have our own formula at NHL Hockey Operations for determining late hits, and it was late. We saw the seriousness of the injury with Nathan on the ice last night.
That's basically what we deliberated on. We tried to compare it with some of the other ones in the past. But it stands alone. It's why we made the ruling.
Q. Can you share what your conversation with Aaron was like? Did he have an explanation for how he viewed it, what he was thinking?
MIKE MURPHY: Yeah, I can. I don't want to say much because the hearing is a private conversation. But he felt it was a hockey play, a hockey play that went bad. Those are my words, not his, but that's basically what he said. It was a one-on-one play. The puck was released, and he followed through with the hit.
Q. The suspension was for the lateness of the hit.
MIKE MURPHY: Yes. The lateness combined with the injury.
Q. Without speculating too much, had that hit occurred quicker, a split second after he released it, would that hit have been deemed legal under Rule 48?
MIKE MURPHY: This has nothing to do with Rule 48. This is just an interference penalty, an interference hit. If it was immediate after he released the puck, it would be a legal hit. We have them all the time.
Q. Because it's a north/south hit?
MIKE MURPHY: North/south play. And we viewed it as that, too.
Q. Mike, how difficult is it to take away Aaron's ability to play in this series? These are different than regular-season games.
MIKE MURPHY: I take it very seriously -- very seriously. Aaron Rome is an important part of the Vancouver team. Guys play all their lives to get to this series on both teams, and you might never get back. So I take it very seriously.
That's all I can say. I do not make light of this. I wish I wasn't sitting here. I wish Aaron was playing, and I wish Nathan was playing.
Q. This is the longest final suspension assessed in Stanley Cup Final history. Can we as media that cover this head-hitting incident for the last three years assess that the League has taken a step to the more serious side of punishing these kind of hits?
MIKE MURPHY: Without question, we have. And I think we have ramped it up through the year. Most of what I know and what I decided on today I've learned from (Senior Executive Vice President, Hockey Operations) Colin Campbell. I know he learned a lot from Brian Burke.
This has to do with what we talk about almost on a nightly basis in the Toronto video room when we have multiple clips; not to this severity, but we have a group of people that share ideas and share thoughts.
We often get asked about panels. Yeah, we have a panel of people that I discuss this with, and a lot of people outside the panel. As difficult as it was, this was the right thing to do.
Q. Whenever something like this happens, we all give our opinion -- one game, two games, rest of series. What was your thought process, your conversations behind the scenes, to arrive at a specific number?
MIKE MURPHY: First of all, I don't make any assessments immediately. I need to look at things in a little cooler temperature than the arena. You never want to say something that's wrong, especially in the severity of these type of things where we've got one young man in the hospital and one young man taken out of the Final.
There's no lightness about it. There's no fun to this. There's no enjoyment to this. Nobody wins in this. Everybody loses. The fans lose. We lost two good hockey players.
I sit down and I look at it and I get a gut feel for the play and say, “What exactly happened here?” I look through it, look through all the angles, look at all the different network feeds. I start asking questions of people I have confidence in that can give me their side of information, their information, (Director of Officiating) Terry Gregson, (Vice President, Hockey Operations) Kris King. Unfortunately I'm not able to use the wisest of them all, Colin Campbell, right now. He's been eliminated from the series and not involved. I have no conversations with him.
But this is what the number was when we kind of went through it and the way I felt it. That's why it was assessed.
Q. Is there a formula equating playoff games to regular-season games?
MIKE MURPHY: Yes. It's more severe.
Q. Is there a number?
MIKE MURPHY: No. I wish there was a number. There's not. You have to feel that. I know in the past when we had a playoff suspension, I remember the (Chris) Pronger elbow going back, the (Claude) Lemieux hit going on -- that was two, Pronger was one. I spoke to the gentleman who issued the two. Wanted his formula, talked to him about it.
I'm talking about Brian Burke. I don't like to mention people who I deal with. He was one gentleman who I did speak with. There's a lot of other people I spoke with, too, not just Brian.
Q. If there is a multiplier, for the sake of argument say it's two and a half, we're talking about a 10-game suspension, which I think is unprecedented. Is the Stanley Cup Final the time to start setting precedence with these things?
MIKE MURPHY: That's your number, not mine. My number is four. It is what it is. It stands alone. I looked at it alone. I know where we are in the Final. I don't want to put what it would be in the regular season.
Yes, it could be eight, 10. I don't know what it could be. I didn't look at it in the regular season. I looked at it in the context of the Final.
Q. Was Brendan Shanahan, seeing as he's getting the baton for next year to handle all the disciplinary stuff, can you confirm he was part of the discussion?
MIKE MURPHY: Absolutely. Brendan has been on our team in Hockey Operations for two years. We talk to Brendan on almost every issue we have. As I said, every night we have eight, 10 issues come out of there. Brendan is on there. We take input. The way Colin operates, he says “Take a look at this, give me your thoughts.” Last night I sat with Brendan, we discussed the play, the pros, the cons, what they saw, what they felt.
Guys like Brendan and (Manager, Hockey Operations) Rob Blake, you can't get better people involved. They're just recently retired. They've lived these rules. They've lived this game. They've lived it at this level, the finals.
Q. We all want to talk about precedent. How difficult is it, even in the concept of that, given that in this sport every play is unique?
MIKE MURPHY: What are you saying there? I'm not sure what your question is.
Q. How can you set a precedent when every play is different?
MIKE MURPHY: Well, there are examples of plays that we would look at to help us consider where we're going with the judgment on this one. We did that. Some of the plays that were brought to my attention don't necessarily hold water in this particular case.
So this stands alone. You have to deal with it separately. Whether it's precedent or not doesn't concern me. Trying to do the right thing is what we did here.
Q. Always in these cases there's a hearing. The player who might get suspended gets his say. Did what Aaron had to say influence you at all? Does it rarely happen that it influences or a lot of the times?
MIKE MURPHY: Yes, it does influence you. To what degree, I can't reveal that. But he was apologetic and contrite. They're two great qualities, because a series ago Aaron Rome was picking himself up off the ice with a concussion from a hit in a San Jose game.
I have a lot of compassion for what he said. Had a lot of feeling for what he said. I did take it to heart.
But I don't think it changed my mind a whole lot.
Q. The suspension, will it have any effect on Aaron having that moment if the Canucks win for Aaron to get on the ice and lift the Cup?
MIKE MURPHY: No, no. He won't be in the game. He'll come on the ice after the game's over.
Q. The fact it's the biggest stage, did that make it tougher coming up with this decision?
MIKE MURPHY: No. I think it's the right decision. It had nothing to do with the stage. It's the play. The play speaks for itself. We assess the play as I described to you. It was late and it injured a player, it injured him severely. We review the medical report. I spoke with the medical people in Boston this morning.
It doesn't look good for Nathan right now to come back and play in this series. The play speaks for itself.
Q. When Colin stepped down a week ago, Gary (Bettman) alluded to the fact there would be sort of a harsher standard imposed for discipline. I'm wondering, in this particular case, was it that standard that was applied to this hit?
MIKE MURPHY: No, no. This is my standard. I was given the responsibility to deal with this series. Brendan will take over next year. He'll have a group of people that are his confidants.
I was told, "You have to take care of this series. If something like this happens, it's your responsibility." I have to look at myself and make sure I'm doing the right thing because I know the severity of what we've just done there.
I know the severity with Nathan in the hospital and Aaron Rome not being able to play in the Final. So this is mine, no one else's. I've learned a lot of this from Colin Campbell. I've learned some of it from talking with Brian Burke over the years when we've had issues I had to deal with. But this is mine.
Q. Do you think if you had suspended Alex Burrows for the finger incident with (Patrice) Bergeron, other things could have been avoided?
MIKE MURPHY: I don't know that. We made the right decision on Alex Burrows. I spoke with Alex. But I'm not here to speak about that. I've dealt with that. We've moved on past that. We will deal with the issues of the series, the chippiness that's going on.
Kris King is in charge of the series. We've addressed it. We've addressed it with the teams as early as this morning. I will be speaking with both general managers and coaches before the day's over about what we are seeing, the garbage that is going on, some of the issues.
Q. You mentioned the injury a couple times. It wasn't a Rule 48. Can you talk about in a situation like this balancing intent with effect and that the length of the suspension should line up with the period of injury for Nathan?
MIKE MURPHY: I don't know how long Nathan Horton is going to be injured for. If I had my way, Nathan would be back in the games. I'm not sure I'll get my way.
But the suspension was what I felt. When I looked at it, it's what I felt. It's not what my whole group felt. In the end, when we go to an individual like Colin Campbell, we say this is two, three or four, he has to stand in front of you people and make the call.
I had to make the call. I was given good information by all of my group, all the people in Hockey Operations, and I made the call. It stands on its own. I keep saying that. I don't want to get away from the hit. I'm only here because of what went on. I don't like it and I wish I wasn't sitting here, but I am.
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Okay. There it is. Straight from the man who made the decision and takes responsibility for it.
I made my own assumtions about the decision making process, and I was partcially right. It appears the decision was made to curtail the injuries, particularly the head injuries AND that suspensions made during the playoffs are more severe.
A few things strike me as odd. First off, there is apparently a formula they use to determine the lateness of a hit in NHL Hockey Operations. What is that formula? Is it known outside the War Room? I would really like to know what exactly it is. It only seems fair to tell what system they use as a means of checks and balances & to give players a sense of what is acceptable and what is suspendable.
Another thing that I felt was a great question was related to the finger biting. Could this have been avoided if the NHL had acted? Next question please.
I will say, there seems to be an undertone of Murphy's statements. All this "my choice", "my decision" stuff. I suspect it's one of two things. Either this is something others in NHL Operations have wanted to do for a while and were unable to under Campbell (as I suspected earlier) or Murphy thinks it is the wrong decision and is regretting it. Murphy might just be the scape goat and he knows it. End the Campbell era and get the Shanhan started on a new note of strictness. It wouldn't surprise me to have a statement later from Shanahan early next season about the suspsion on Rome being a good decision, but one that should have waited until the new season to start, not during the playoffs.
I believe the first is more likely because while Murphy continously said it was his decision, his call, mine-mine-mine...
...it comes with lots and lots of name dropping. He mentions a list of people he consulted giving the impression that others approved this decision and would have made the same one. He does slightly distance himself from Campbell too. Not terribly far (don't want to bite the hand that feeds you), but enough to give the impression it is not what Campbell would have done.
Murphy also mentioned that the suspension was only in context of the Finals, not in the regular season. I have mixed emotions on this. On the one hand, yes, the Finals are completely different than the regular season and should be treated differently. However, it is difficult to set precedence within the Finals because you only have a handful of games to do it.
I get how the NHL wants to stop these type of injuries. And Rome may just be the first of many future playoff or Finals suspensions for plays that result in injury.
Precedent is a hard thing. I recieved my Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice and therefore have some knowledge about precedent as it relates to legal issues. (I did not take many legal classes and there is much more to know than my limited knowledge, but I have a vague idea about what I'm talking about). Anyway, courts set precedent all the time. It's why lawyers quote other cases all the time. If the court looks at a case and makes a ruling, then other cases with the same facts should have the same outcome. The problem is, every case is different with different people, situations, mindsets, and settings.
It's the same thing the NHL has to deal with. While every situation is unique, they are not without precedent in most cases. Murphy was right that you can look at similar plays, but each is its own.
I guess my hope is that Rome is setting precedent, not adhearing to it. If the battle line has been drawn, I can understand that and even be on board. While there was no intent, the play was late and there was serious injury. If players know that suspension is a possible outcome, it will make the game safer. If the Rome / Horton incident is not setting precedent but rather conforming to established protecal, I have issue.
As previously stated in another post, I do not believe the playoffs are the place to set precedent though. It may have been a mistake to not punish severely during the season, but you have to continue being a pansy about it during the playoffs. It's not fair to change the game (even off the ice) when you've been playing under one set of rules and punishments since September. Suck it up, created a video montage to release in the offseason, and use that to explain how late hits resulting in injury will no longer be tolerated in 2011-2012.
It would not be a total shock or even (sorry) unprecedented in the current hockey rules. Example Rule 60.3, High Sticking Double-minor Penalty: - When a player carries or holds any part of his stick above the shuolders of the opponent so that injury results, the Referee shall assess a double-minor penalty for all contact that causes an injury, whether accidental or careless, in the opinion of the Referee.
You see it all the time. A high stick smacks a guy in the face and a penalty is called. The Referee goes and looks at the victim for signs of injury. It really didn't matter if it was intentionally or not, just blood.
Hockey may need to just add a concusion rule. If a play between two or more players of oppossing teams results in a diagnosed concussion, the offending player (or players) responsible for the injury, whether accidental or careless, will result in a minimum four game suspension (two games during the playoffs).
To keep things fair, I believe a creation of an automatic 14 day disable list is also necessary. Players who suffer a concussion will be unable to play for 14 days if diagnosed with a concussion, minimum. This is similar to the 7 day MLB concussion rule in the approximate amount of games a player will miss, plus it gives more time to recover than MLB rules. Plus, it will prevent teams from claiming false injuries to punish other teams because it will punish themselves as well in the event of dishonest intent.
That's my idea on how to deal with the serious nature of protecting players, setting precedent, and maintaining clear standards.
TTFN
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