Union, Forbes and Headshots

The most nervous people in the room after Ted Saskin?

Why the 30 NHL owners, of course.

Saskin may be getting happy feet after months of being hounded by Chris Chelios - remind me to never get that guy mad at me - Dwayne Roloson and Trent Klatt, which some very smart agents helping out in the background.

But while you might think NHL owners are enjoying the spectacle, they're not.

They want Saskin to stay in the job. They believe, you see, that after years of Bob Goodenow, they finally have a union boss they can actually work with.

It was Saskin, don't forget, who cut the deal that ended the lockout with NHL vice-president Bill Daly. Since taking over from Goodenow, Saskin has been trying to work with the league on a variety of issues, although the union remains as useless as ever when it comes to health and safety issues.

I mean, shouldn't they be the ones raising a fuss over head shots?

The point is NHL owners do not want to see Saskin replaced, mostly because they understand his replacement would likely be a hard-ass, antagonistic opponent with which to deal.

So as the pressure mounts on the embattled NHLPA chief, its the owners who may be the most nervous of all.

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Jolly good of Forbes to rank the top general managers in North American sport.

Too bad the list is so riddled with errors.

Forget they put Don Waddell of the Atlanta Thrashers at No. 6 on their list, conveniently overlooking the fact the Thrashers have never made the playoffs. Forget that Glen Sather is 12th despite having failed to have any real success in Edmonton or New York in more than a decade.

How about Pierre Lacroix of Colorado at No. 14? Good choice, except he's not the Avalanche GM. Francois Giguere is.

Ditto for Dave Taylor (18), Bob Clarke (27), Mike Keenan (56), Mike O'Connell (73) and Mike Milbury (76).

None are GMs any longer. But they're all treated as such on the Forbes list.

Kind of hard to take it seriously, don't you think? Makes you wonder about everything else that publication does, including its annual valuations of NHL teams.

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Craig Hartsburg, through his coaching of the Canada's world junior champs, has become one of the hotter coaching prospects at the moment.

Given that he was also a distinguished NHL defenceman for many years, he might have an opinion or two worth listening to.

And he says the Ontario Hockey League's head checking policy would easily fit the NHL.

"I don't see why not," he said today. "It sure hasn't taken away hitting in our league. I think it has a place in every league."

In the "O," any hit that makes contact with an opponent's head nets a two-minute minor, and anything more egregious than that is five and a game.

Hartsburg said he was surprised by the hit on Leaf defenceman Tomas Kaberle by Cam Janssen of the New Jersey Devils that left Kaberle with a concussion.

"For the most part, players in the NHL have better respect for each other," he said. "But you see a hit like Janssen's and you realize there are still players in the game who are out to hurt people."

Hartsburg, meanwhile, is expected to decide in the next week or so whether he'll coach Canada's entry in the 2008 world junior championships in the Czech Republic.

Comments

[Dave Stacey]

Damien, I couldn't agree more with your comments re: head shots in the NHL. They must be outlawed as soon as possible.
Until they are however, the likes of Janssen must be made to pay the price for their indiscretions. If each of the Leafs on the ice at the time of the Kaberle hit had run the full length of the ice at Janssen with the intent of cold cocking him when they arrived, how often would Janssen repeat his performance?
I am one who believes that until Janssen is suspended for a meaningful length of time, or is hospitalized, the balance sheet hasn't been closed.

[mimmo70]

Amazingly, Mike Murphy, senior vice-president of hockey operations in the NHL, said that Janssen's hit on Kaberle was "clean", it was just late. Unbelievable! And these guys are in senior positions in the NHL executive suites. When are they going to get it - head hunting is dirty and cheap and has only one purpose and that is to hurt.

The OHL policy is a good start, but I'd give any hits to the head 5 and a game to start and then a possible suspension on top of that. You get 4 minutes for a high stick that causes a trickle of blood, for chrissakes.

[Richard]

Damien,
I don't like to see Kaberle get knocked out, but if any shoulder to head contact is a two minute minor we will only see more penalties. What if a fellow has his head down and runs into your shoulder? What if you are Hal Gill and a short man tries to duck your check and ends up smackin' his head on your shoulder? I think for every head hit that takes a player out there are 100 that are either inconsequential or accidental. Protection is a noble aim, but I don't want to see more soft penalties. Players will get injured no matter the rules, so how far do we trade off action for safety? No one likes it when the players start hittin' and the game gets intense and all of a sudden the parade to the box begins. Perhaps it would be more effective to penalize late hits rather than shoulder-to-head contact.
Rich, Vancouver

[JasLX]

Damien:

I teach 13 and 14 year olds in SW Ontario a number of them who have played AAA hockey.

They are still taught from the age of 10 to "hit to hurt". The quotes are there for a reason - the coaches use the phrase when teaching these impressionable kids the "subtleties" of the game.

Frequently, the AAA hockey kids are also the ones getting into conflict on the school-yard, show lack of respect for adults, and have aggression management issues during phys ed class.

Until these cavemen coaches (who swear at these kids enough to make a sailor blush) are removed from the system, I doubt the NHL will completely eliminate the Janssen-type player.

I also used to teach in New Zealand where the kids are taught to tackle from the age of 5. They are taught to tackle hard enough to stop - of course, without pads - if they hurt, so do you.

Thanks for the great blog....

[Joe Nix]

The NHL has a severe 'IQ' deficiency.

I've watched all the full games on Google Videos for this season. I haven't had a TV since 1987, don't want one.

Most penalties are gross stupidity by the players and many are by 'name players'. Well into February they are too dumb to 'break old habits', deliberate hooks, interference, tripping etc. It's disgusting to watch. The GM's and 'the league' are equally as stupid making moron statements about headshots. From 'my angle' the Janssen hit was charging, boarding, attempt to injure and late.

I can't see a fan base happy with a constant stream of injury and recovery reports. It gets tiresome. The standings are effected. The only 'good side' is AHL players get a chance to show many of them are only ice time removed from being
NHL calibre. And more would succeed if the thugs and thuggery were removed from the game.

Those my age, 75, can 'see it all clearly' and are wise enough not to expect significant improvement.

[peter]

I've had it. Until ever-so-recently - when I read a piece in one of our fair city's daily newspapers regarding Don Cherry's opinion on the Leafs and their perceived lack of toughness - I was a great supporter of his, a firm believer in the 'old time hockey' mantra. I think it is officially beyond doubt of his having broached senility. He said something to the tune of the Leafs ought to be ashamed of themselves for not responding to Janssens' hit on Kaberle, which to me is ridiculous. If I'm not mistaken, the Leafs lost their number 1 defenceman and managed to pull out a hard fought victory that the team badly needed. Frankly, as a die-hard fan, I couldn't give a lick if we sent Belak after one of their top guys, say Zack Parise, and took him out and lost that game because they scored on the ensuing powerplay. That is, in fact, why doing so is a just plain stupid idea. In fact, I probably would have been ashamed if that was our bench's reaction.
I'm proud that the game didn't turn into an all-out melee, which it could easily have, but Maurice said after the game that as soon as 15 went down all he started saying was 'let's not lose this game, no way do we lose this game'. Right on, perfect attitude.
They always say the best revenge is living well, and we won the game. Losing your cool and going out for revenge on one of their guys...well, we should remember how well that does us (See Gilmour-Gretzky-Fraser circa '93).