For Shanahan, another head-scratching decision
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Flyers Report: Broad Street Bull
For Shanahan, another head-scratching decision
Sam Carchidi, Inquirer Staff Writer
Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s dean of discipline, should be featured on Saturday Night Live.
His videos are a laugh riot.
Shanahan on Tuesday night suspended Pittsburgh’s Arron Asham for four games and teammate James Neal for one game because of incidents in the Penguins’ 8-4 loss to the Flyers on Sunday.
On the same shift, Neal took runs at Sean Couturier and then Claude Giroux.
In his video, Shanahan explained that Neal, a 40-goal scorer in the regular season whose presence will be missed, was suspended for charging at Giroux and “once again launching prior to making contact.”
Fair enough.
But his failure to penalize Neal for leaving his feet for a dirty hit on Couturier was laughable.
Shanahan said the NHL was “willing to accept Neal’s assertion” that he jumped at Couturier “to brace himself for an unintended collision.”
Shanahan’s decision is supposed to be based on WHAT HAPPENED, not on what the player DIDN’T INTEND TO HAPPEN. It should also be noted that Neal was fined once this season and received two warnings for incidents _ and that he was suspended three years ago for a check from behind.
From here, the run at Couturier was much worse than the one at Giroux.
From here, if Shanahan used a dart board, his decisions would make as much sense.
His most grievous post-season error was not suspending Nashville’s Shea Weber for slamming the head of Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg’s into the glass.
He slapped the all-star defenseman on the wrist with a $2,500 fine.
The decision on Neal just re-affirmed this: Shanahan is a master at inconsistent rulings.
Follow Sam Carchidi on Twitter @BroadStBull.
- You got that one right. YOu know they would have been out of the game immediately!!!
— silpugs - If he was just bracing himself, why did he follow all the way through with his arm by continuing to push on Cotourier?— mikeyhigs
- When I go jogging, I often launch myself into joggers coming the other way "to brace for an unintended collision."— verve
- And I frequently do the same while skiing.
(and to think, as a non-diehard, I wondered what all the Pens loathing was about. They make it so easy, especially Crosby)— COskier - if this series was tied 3-3 there probably would not have been any suspension except for Asham.
Neals story changed a few times, guess he kept changing it until Brenda heard the right version.— FatBoy90 - Nothin arbitrary about these rulings - if you suck you get the max penalty and if you are an all star you get the min. Oh yeah and if your name is cindy you can do whatever you want...— LostInNY
- I love hockey, but hockey players are not educated enough to make these kinds of decisions. Just because they have gotten hit in the past, or made such hits does not give them the ability to be a judge. As Sam rightly points out, things like intent and result should be considered but not primarily. There's absolutely no place for the hit that Neal gave Courturier. If that stuff is allowed, it's going to mean that hockey's players are going to miss a lot of games with head injury, and it'll lessen its entertainment value.— RKinsella
- Brendan Shanahan = BS. This Creep is not too far removed from playing the game and still has loyalties to certain players and teams. How else can you explain some of his boneheaded decisions. The League should fire him after the season and replace with a 3 person panel that is unbiased and has no ties with teams or players!— younged
- What Shanahan failed to take into account is that Neal's were a premeditated strategic strike to take out Couturier, who has muted Malkin in the series, and Giroux, obviously the Flyers leading scorer. If it were Neal hitting Schenn and Asham hitting Couturier and Giroux, the suspensions for each would have been the same. Shanahan is awful and in over his head.— JimmyFledPhilly
- This is NOT right! Neal hit was by far the worse of the two shots. Coutourier should not have to protect himself. He didn't even have the puck. One game is a joke! Suspend the coach for obvious intent to injure. Nothing else to be gained but a knockout of a star or two. This is even against the code. Renegade team. Vitale's two shots on Grossman knee and knockout of Briere are still unaddressed.— LaCroix,Nolet,Gendron
- Of course if we lose tonite we can see Neal and Vitale one more time.
Where is Sestito? Players should settle accounts not ex-players. Where is the grim reaper?— LaCroix,Nolet,Gendron - Beginning with Vitale's hit on Briere, the Pens have intentionally tried to injure key players on the Flyers. The coach should be "Paytoned." Neal should have received at least what Asham got. And the NHL needs to hire someone other than an ex player for the discipline judge. There needs to be a baseline of punishment for intent to injure. First the refs blew it by not penalizing Neal for his hit, which led to the endgame chaos. Then Shanahan sets a bad precedent with the Neal decision. Wonder if Hossa ends up on a stretcher if Neal had swiftly been given a 5 game suspension.— retzlaff
- I'm sure Shanny would have given the same weak punishment to Zac Rinaldo if he was the perp. Yeah, right. It's about who you are, not what you did.— philharmonic55
- I think Shanahan should have retired to obscurity!! He must have had one too many hits to his own head to come up with the rulings he has made....His rulings are ridiculous at best...and border nonsense— fbpdplt
- I've said this before, Shanny is employed by the league, who represents the owners. When star players are suspended it directly impacts their teams ability to win games and subsequently lose money, especially in the playoffs! Hence the reason Shanny has no problem suspending 3rd and 4th line players, but is very hesitant to do the same with star players. Weber should have been suspended for what he did and Neal deserves more than 1 game, considering he's a repeat offender and ran two players. I don't see why whether the player was injured or not has any bearing on his decision making process. Some players are better able to withstand the hits than others, but if the act is the same why should it matter? It seems as though the NFL is actually getting it right with how they've dealt with head shots...zero tolerance! The NHL and Shanny would be wise to follow suit!— aantny88
