NHL’s Department of Player Safety comes under fire

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety has come under fire recently, specifically by power forward Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks. Kane was assessed a two-minute minor penalty for elbowing defenceman Neal Pionk of the Winnipeg Jets in the head on Feb. 14th and was then handed a three-game suspension for the hit.

Kane took to his social media accounts soon after being suspended and laid into the Department of Player Safety and George Parros, the department’s head. Kane didn’t exactly say his actions didn’t warrant a suspension but he questioned why other acts of violence in the league have recently gone unpunished or why the punishment didn’t seem to fit the crime.

A week before the Kane incident, Arizona Coyotes’ Lawson Crouse elbowed Charlie McAvoy of the Boston Bruins in the same manner and was given a two-minute penalty for roughing but received no additional punishment. In addition, Boston’s  veteran blue liner Zdeno Chara viciously cross checked Brendan Gallagher of the Montreal Canadiens in the throat and was handed just a $5000 with no suspension.

Chara was given a minor penalty on the play but so was Gallagher, who did nothing more than absorb the dangerous cross-check. Several days after that incident, Edmonton Oilers’ forward Zack Kassian attempted to kick rearguard Erik Cernak of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the chest and was suspended for seven games.

Kane released a public statement which basically said there have been dozens of incidents in the league over the past few years which were similar to his elbowing penalty on Pionk but they didn’t result in any fines and/or suspensions. He added that the Department of Player Safety lacks consistency as nobody seems to know what exactly does and doesn’t deserve a suspension.

Kane went on to say the players are baffled and he doesn’t understand how the players’ association agreed to the current disciplinary process. He claimed that some players get the book thrown at them while others get a free pass when committing borderline punishable hits. Kane then appeared to get plenty of fan support for his comments from others on social media platforms.

Some fans have questioned why Parros is in charge of player safety since he was an enforcer and fighter when he played. He scored 18 goals and 18 assists in 474 regular-season NHL contests and accumulated 1,092 minutes in penalties while playing an average of 5 minutes and 56 seconds per game. In fact, Parros also started a line of clothing called the Violent Gentlemen Apparel Company with one of it’s slogans being, “Make hockey violent again.”

It’s believed by many that Parros and his department aren’t being as strict as they should be and that’s why some players are getting away with violent conduct, which is leading to inconsistency when it comes to doling out punishment. In addition, the NHL Players’ Association represents players who have been suspended and want to appeal their sentence but the association doesn’t launch appeals on behalf of players who have been the victims of on-ice violence and have suffered from it.

According to Kane, the entire disciplinary process should be decided by an outside third party not the league itself. He believes that punishment should be handled by somebody who has no current or previous ties with the NHL and many fans seem to agree with him.

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