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One area that I don't think gets looked at enough is the accountability -- or lack thereof -- of teams' coaches in these situations when it comes to head shots and other player safety matters.
So many coaches --- and general managers, for that matter -- send out mixed messages. On the one hand, they all cry out for the leagues and on-ice officials to do things to make the game safer for players. They are quick to talk about players showing disrespect for the game and for fellow players when one of their own guys gets injured or narrowly escapes serious injury.
Ah, but remember what I have said in previous blogs about the "29-Team Rulebook"? Far too often, the same coaches who are the most vocal in criticizing other teams' players do little or nothing to pre-empt their own players from engaging in dangerous and reckless hits.
All of my life in hockey, I've heard coaches holler "Finish your check!" at their players. They drum it home. Now, I appreciate a good, clean body check as much as anyone. I don't want to see clean hits taken out of the game.
Far too often, however, what "finish your check" really means is "Go out of your way to drill that guy any way you can." They don't emphasize showing concern for another player's safety. They don't emphasize respect. They hardly even sufficiently stress the common sense notion of not going for a hit at the expense of taking yourself out of position.
What usually happens when a player on the coach's team delivers a reckless hit and gets suspended? The coach says something along the lines of "he's a good kid," "he was just trying to make a hockey play," "the League is overreacting based on the result," etc.
There is absolutely a trickle-down effect from the NHL to the other leagues in this regard. Players and coaches alike take their cue from what they see the pros do at the top level. As a hockey lifer and the father of two sons who've inherited my love for the game, it distresses and worries me.
Quick tangent: The youth leagues may put stop signs on the back of kids' sweaters but I still see a lot of hitting from behind and hear a lot of "finish your check" demands. Similarly we may give the kids cages and mouth guards and the goalie's cut-resistant underarmor, and yet how many coaches more sure their own players follow rules that have been created for their own safety?
Coaches are with their players every single day. The officials deal with them a few hours a week. As such, I believe that many coaches from the NHL are doing the game a severe disservice with the mixed messages they send about player safety and showing the same respect to an opponent that you want in return.
Here's a thought for dealing with teams whose players chronically end up on the suspension blotter: What if coaches themselves actually had more skin in the game? What if the coaches themselves started to face suspensions after, say, three incidents involving players on their team in a single season?
Having the coaches take direct responsibility might be the best way to resolve chronic problems. They do it with leaving the bench and we never (or at least rarely) have that problem any more.
A final thought: Coaches love to holler about accountability for the officials. The officials should be accountable, and all internal disciplinary steps taken against one should be a matter of public record. Yeah, but how many coaches willingly divulge when they've fined a player or decided to make an example of his poor play by scratching him?
Listen, I like and respect most NHL coaches. It's a tough job with a lot of pressure to win. Everyone wants to create any little advantage possible for his own team. I also understand that things happen and get said in the heat of battle. I've been there myself.
At the end of the day, however, coaches have to recognize by simultaneously promoting a safer and more respectful game and squawking because what they really want is a 29-team rulebook in the NHL (or X-minus-one rulebook for fill-in-the-blank league), they are part of the problem rather than the solution.
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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 serves as director of hockey officiating for the ECAC.