by Hockey Guru
This season, teams have been forced to settle for less than honorable ways of battling with each other. Especially toward the end of the game. Each team - and this is now a league-wide approach - simply tries to push the envelope with cheap shots and face washes, hoping merely for retaliation, so that the league office can step in a suspend someone.
It may be a waste of time and energy to say this, but the league office has to stop with this. They have to let the game be played on the ice - not in disciplinary hearings. Barring something completely obvious, suspensions shouldn’t be handed down during the playoffs.
The Hockey Guru proposes that if the NHL is so concerned about the "nonsense at the end of games", then they should hand out 10-minute misconduct penalties, to be served at the start of the next game.
When suspensions are on the table, there exists a major reward for a team to try to goad a star player into earning an automatic suspension for defending themselves. Late in the third, Ben Eager started fighting Dion Phaneuf in tonight's game. This is an incredibly smart strategy for a coach to employ, late in the third. Just have your player start a fight with the other team's star. Either they can get some free shots in, or else the star player fights back and risks getting suspended.
The officiating in the NHL is the best in the world. The league office has to trust its on-ice officials, who already have the power to give out game misconduct penalties and the like, at any time during a game. They are on the ice and have a feel for the flow of the game. Let them hand out the penalties and stop the league office interference.
Again, it may be a waste of time, but should we just sit back?
Adding to the above 10-minute misconduct proposal, if the league wants to hand out suspensions, then wait to hand them out during the following regular season. They could have full blown hearings in the off season which could help fill programming on the NHL Network.
Think about the OJ trial - this could be pure genius.
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