Shelley Suspended 10 Games / A Look at NHL Punishment

It looks like the NHL listened to me.

More likely, they have no idea what my thoughts are. But nonetheless, they addressed some issues I had problems with back in June regarding League punishment. A recent example explains.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Jody Shelley has been suspended for the remainder of the preseason and the first five games of the regular season for his hit on Toronto’s Darryl Boyce.

Brendan Shanahan was busy Thursday in his first season as the NHL’s dean of discipline. He also banned Calgary forward Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond for the rest of the preseason and the Flames’ first game of the regular season.

Shelley received a five-minute boarding penalty for hitting Boyce when Boyce was facing the end boards. Immediately after the hit, Toronto’s Jay Rosehill and Shelley engaged in a lengthy fight. Shelley left the ice with the right side of his face bloodied. Both players received fighting majors, and Shelley was also given a game misconduct.

Shelley can return Oct. 20 vs. Washington. He was suspended twice last season.

I hope this is a trend. Hear me out.

If Shanahan shows himself to be a tough disciplinarian that is not afraid to lay down the law, dangerous plays will start to go down in the NHL. Not all hits, but ones that are likely to cause injury.

That is good for the sport. The random punishment scheme of the past is not what the League needs. But a stern judge & jury could be welcome, as long as he is consistant.

We could be seeing a new era in League discpline, one that others may have wanted for a long time. Remember the Rome hit to Horton in the Finals? That punishment (an unheard of 4 games in the Finals) was done by Mike Murphy who took over discipline because former discipline dispenser Colin Campbell (technically the League's senior executive vice president of Hockey Operations) had a son playing for Boston.

And it seemed harsh at the moment. But, as I said at the time, this could be a signal of a new era under Shanahan and the general feeling around the NHL War Room. Harsh, but fair, unlike the old Campbell model of throwing a dart at a piece of paper with punishments written on it.

I can fully support a harsh League stance to injury punishments. As long as it is fair. So far, since Campbell's leaving, it appears to be the case.

There haven't been many major controversal hits in the preseason (that I'm aware of) where a no call from the League office has been met with a collective, "What!?"

We could be on our way to the behavior conditioning I talked about back in mid-June. (Check it out if you haven't already. Lots of good pictures including Santa, that cheerleader from Heros, and a dog.)

I stand by that and it appears the NHL is on the same page now. In fact, my biggest concerns from that post are actually being addressed.

I talked about the secret formula the League used to determine lateness of a hit. Well, that was addressed with video.

I talked about the need to be consistant. So far, so good.

I talked about needing to be harsh with the punishments for actions they want to avoid. Again, it appears that is happening.

I talked about hiring Hayden Panettiere. And naming the Winnipeg team the Wildcats.

Okay, so they didn't listen to everything. But the important stuff, that has been addressed.

TTFN