1) When we first contemplated this post last week we were intending to write a favourable report on Brendan Shanahan. The future Hall of Famer/former 600 goal scorer is not only The NHL's Vice President of Hockey and Business Development, but also the NHL's chief player disciplinarian succeeding Colin Campbell who had been long criticized by many, including us http://newfaux.blogspot.com/2007/10/nhl-crime-and-punishment.html. However, before I had an opportunity to jot down my thoughts for you folks to read, it seems that almost every other hockey writer/blogger did their version of the same post. I don't intend to change my perspective of Shanahan drastically because of this, but will now have a bit of a wary eye on him. It just seems a bit of a coincidence that everyone had a story on the same subject at the same time? Yes, its entirely possible with the a season yet to have started, writers were simply looking for anything to muse about, but come on, everyone and all with the same opinion/story bent at the same time?
2) So first what we originally intended to discuss here. We were not so much happy with the justice served by Shanahan with his recent suspensions of Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Jody Shelley (Yes, it was deserved if the letter of the new rules are to be interpreted as such), but we were happy with the way it was handled; very publicly and with a clear explanation of why the suspension was levied with video and the VP himself there to explain his actions. His predecessor(s) seemed to never give adequate(if any) explanation of why they came to their conclusions. The more transparency on all subjects the better has always been our motto/goal of us at Fauxrumors. http://newfaux.blogspot.com/2008/08/salary-cap-transparency.html
2) So first what we originally intended to discuss here. We were not so much happy with the justice served by Shanahan with his recent suspensions of Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond and Jody Shelley (Yes, it was deserved if the letter of the new rules are to be interpreted as such), but we were happy with the way it was handled; very publicly and with a clear explanation of why the suspension was levied with video and the VP himself there to explain his actions. His predecessor(s) seemed to never give adequate(if any) explanation of why they came to their conclusions. The more transparency on all subjects the better has always been our motto/goal of us at Fauxrumors. http://newfaux.blogspot.com/2008/08/salary-cap-transparency.html
3) So where do we go from here? Well, with these rulings, and more importantly the way they were levied, we now have an expectation. Will all future suspensions be handled this way? Preseason suspensions of players who are not vital to their teams' success is one thing, but will 'Shanny' be equally up front if he has to discipline a star player down the stretch or in the playoffs? Will he continue to rule the same way all season and with all offenders? Will he recuse himself if a former teammate comes before him? These are areas where the rubber will hit the road. We will be first to laud Brendan if he maintains a consistency in suspension length for all offenders regardless of who it is, and when it takes place. That has been lacking in all the MANY years I and Fauxrumors have been following the NHL. Let's all hope that this will be the new 'rule' and not a short term PR campaign.
PS. FR2 tells me that he is working on a post where he will list his Top 10 at each position along with a brief description of why. Should be interesting. He tels me it should drop later this week. Of course look for our Preseason predictions coming in the next week or so. And as always, keep it here for all the latest!
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