Brendan Shanahan’s video explanations are getting a lot of attention from NHL players. “I’m Brendan Shanahan, the National Hockey League’s Senior Vice President of Player Safety.” By the now you’ve seen his work, which falls somewhere between a public service announcement for the War Amps, and cutting edge protocol that sets the NHL apart from every other major sports league on this continent. But Shanahan didn’t get into this to become a Youtube sensation, like Linus Omark or that Indonesian baby who smokes 40 cigarettes a day.
“I don’t really enjoy making the videos,” Shanahan admitted Tuesday afternoon, coming up for some air to talk with us after the skein of suspensions he’s been handing down this preseason. Like it or not though, the videos have become Shanahan’s trademark perhaps overshadowing the fact the NHL is finally handing down meaningful suspensions. The presentation, it seems, has been as impactful as the verdict — and NHL players are watching. “Every one of them,” veteran Edmonton defenceman Ryan Whitney said, looking around the Oilers room from his stall. “Every guy in here has watched every one of them.” That they — and you — are on-line with this process means a lot to Shanahan, who credits NHL commissioner Gary Bettman with the whole concept of putting each ruling to video and disseminating it to the masses. Shanahan does not care, however, if you agree with him. The man who is believed to be the all-time leader in Gordie How hat tricks — who admits, he’s done a lot of these things he is now suspending players for doing — has become, in his new life as an arbiter of justice, like any judge, referee, parent or boss. He is just a guy trying to make an informed, fair and accurate decision, and deliver in the most impactful way possible. “Players don’t get their information on a chalk board anymore,” Shanahan said. “They don’t get it from a (coach’s speech). They don’t want to hear what to do. They want to be shown what to do. “I didn’t expect to be making this many videos, this early. But they’re valuable in a transparency sense. Valuable in their clarity,” he continued. “And we want them there for education. We want people to go back and be able to view them.” Watch the J.F. Jacques ruling on NHL.com. If you’re, say, Colton Orr or Ben Eager, you’ll likely pick your spot a little more wisely than Anaheim’s Jacques, who was suspended for the rest of the preseason and five regular season games. But if there is a misperception early in Shanahan’s tenure, it is that his desire is to raise the bar on punishment; that he is a far tougher dispenser of justice than his mentor and predecessor Colin Campbell. “I still believe in one-, two-, and three-game suspensions, when they’re suitable,” he said. “It just so happens that some of (these) guys have been repeat offenders. “If we had five situations like Brad Boyes (who was not a repeat offender, and did not show intent to deliver a head shot), people would be saying the suspensions are light.” Truly, Shanahan has had some mighty short putts this fall. But give him credit — he’s been burying them. “These hits you’ve seen are just stupid,” Whitney said. “It’s common sense, and it was common sense five years ago. You don’t crush a guy from behind.” Common sense. It has never been part of the NHL’s repertoire when it comes to things like down-sizing goalie equipment, getting rid of hard-caps on shoulder and elbow pads, or dealing with predators like Matt Cooke and Raffi Torres. If there is group that should rue the day Shanahan put on the open-collar dress shirt and dark sports coat however, it is the repeat offenders. “The repeat offender is something that our general managers, our owners, players, even members of the union have all said: there is really very little tolerance for them,” Shanahan said. “Players who put other players’ careers and lives at risk.” Thus, Jody Shelley gets 10 games, and James Wisniewski gets the remainder of the preseason, plus eight regular season games. “It was harsh. It was very harsh,” observed Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel of the Wisniewski ruling. “Obviously the league felt that, being a repeat offender, a blow to the head, that was the call that needed to be made.” Said Shanahan: “This was Shelley’s seventh suspension in his career. This was Wisniewski’s fifth since March of ’08.” Shanahan promises more videos on high-profile situations like Zdeno Chara vs. Max Pacioretty, when no discipline is meted out. “Some of the more controversial hits, where there isn’t a suspension, that’s another good teaching tool,” he said. “Whether you agree or disagree, here’s why there was no suspension, or hearing, on this play. “And once we have a moment to breathe?” he adds. “We’re also collecting clips of players in dangerous situations, recognizing it, and making the right decision. “All we ever see is a player making the bad decision at a bad time. These players are making a better and safer decision, in those split seconds.” Jacques marked Shanahan’s sixth suspension since last Thursday, totaling 20 exhibition games, 22 regular-season games and $636,952.83 in forfeited salary. Delivering his decisions to the masses, complete with tracts from the rulebook and video evidence? That, we’re ready to say, is priceless.
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