Follow Paul on Twitter: @paulstewart22
The other day, I talked with a friend of mine in the hockey business. He's in a tough position of authority, having to deal with various coaches and people such as myself. It's never easy being the boss.
Ask anyone who works closely with or for me. I can be a real pain in the posterior. I am like a gila monster; I grab on and won't let go until an answer -- a truthful one -- that I can take back to my own people.
A core belief of mine on leadership: Whether it's hockey or the business world, a good boss realizes that a little friction and constructive push-pull is a healthy thing that leads to better decisions and a more effective organization on the whole.
One of my biggest longstanding issues with how the National Hockey League keeps it own house is that things are far too cushy and self-serving in some key departments, especially under the Hockey Operations umbrella.
Those with hiring power too often hire their friends, who will be their yes men and sit around like a bunch of nodding heads in the back window of a '56 Chevy. They tend to be like-minded, anyway, and are mostly content professionally to draw their paycheck while not upsetting the applecart.
Alternatively, they go for window-dressing the game's problems through star power. Repeatedly, they hire "big name" people who use the post as a transitional job w long-term ambitions lay elsewhere from their current job. Most want to land back with NHL teams, not the league office, in decision-making capacities.
The other day, I watched an NHL show on television, with Colin Campbell sitting there chuckling and spewing platitudes about the Player Safety department and discipline committee, primarily as it relates to diving. Campbell was telling everyone how tough and take-charge Chris Pronger is on the job.
Perhaps he truly is. I don't know. It wasn't Pronger's style as a young or veteran player to keep silent, so perhaps he does push back within his current role in the league (while still technically being a contracted player on the Philadelphia Flyers). However, I do know enough about how NHL Hockey Ops likes to function to know their idea of "tough on the job" is towing the party line, and free-thinking and, heaven forbid, healthy dissent are not considered desirable traits.
Hey, Soupy, how come the guys you pick for your committees are always ex-players and (almost) always former stars? Individually, most of them are good guys and good hockey people, but where are the men who might challenge your opinions or at least bring a different perspective and experiences in looking at the game?
I don't say this out of any self-interest. I won't sugar-coat it: I am in my 60s, am not a favorite of the NHL powers-that-be and have no pretensions that I have a snowball's chance in hell of doing for the NHL what I have done in the KHL and the ECAC. What I do want to see, though, is for the NHL to think outside the box a bit more in whom they bring into their Hockey Ops fold.
Specifically, I think they should hire some former officials who are hockey savvy be invited to te table on matters such as discipline, video review, rulebook revision, etc. Why don't you take a longtime referee or linesman. Hire someone like Mark Pare, Gerry Gauthier or Pat Dapuzzo. Hire now-retired referee Don Van Massenhoven. Want the "big-name" splash? Fine, then hire a guy like Kerry Fraser with strong opinions that may, heaven forbid, challenge yours or those you handpick to be obedient lapdogs in the operation and supervision of officiating.
Do you think I sound bitter? Do you think I am anti-NHL? Then you don't know me at all.
It is my nature to talk bluntly in order to make my views clear and direct. I talk passionately and emotionally because I care very deeply about the game as a whole. I will always love and care about the NHL, both because of my own long history and relationships within it and also because everything filters down in this game and the NHL affects every league. Most of all, however, I owe my loyalty to the game.
My view is this: If you are spending $1 million and a half, you think the NHL might go a little deeper for credibility sake and put a Committee together that will put some teeth into the rules and fines. Just one man's opinion. What do I know, anyway?
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born citizen to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the first American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is the chairman of the officiating and discipline committee for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials, while also maintaining a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography.