Is Brendan Shanahan Making Hockey Safer?
Brendan Shanahan delivered a lot on the ice during his glorious 21 year NHL career that took in stints with the New Jersey Devils, St Louis Blues, Hartford Whalers, New York Rangers and most famously the Detroit Red Wings (where he won three Stanley Cups). But it appears that his legacy is spreading further in his new role as Director of Player Safety.
Since his appointment in 2011, Shanahan has taken a hard line on player safety and if someone crosses over with an illegal hit, then the infamous 'Shana-ban' will be enforced. Raffi Torres has twice been on the receiving end as his horrendous hit on Martin Havlat whist playing for Phoenix landed him with a 21 game ban (the longest of the 21st century so far!) and last year whilst a San Jose he his illegal check on LA King's Jarret Stoll landed him with a ban from the playoff second round!
Many would use this assignment as a cushy job to keep them in the hockey world, Shanahan however has been praised for his involvement and seems to have a real concern about preventing serious injury. In the old days they were big questions about whether justice was real been delivered and many lengthy bans were repeated overturned (such as Chris Simons stick swing at Ryan Holloweg in 2007). But since introducing video reviews of incidents, Shanahan has helped enforce bans on illegal checks.
His handling of the Leafs v Sabres brawl in pre season deserves particularly high commendation, as he gave out a 7 game ban to Buffalo's man mountain enforcer John Scott for kick starting events and a 10 game ban to newly arrived Leaf David Clarkson who left the bench to get involved in the brawl!
Many my see this as rich coming from a player who clocked up over 2000 penalty minutes during his career, but his passion for the job cannot be denied- and it could be said this may well be his biggest contribution to Hockey (just as Gary Bettman).
Joffrey Lupul is set to be the next Shana-ban victim as he had been summoned over hit on Detroit's Patrick Eaves during the first period of the winter classic, good luck Joffrey, you will need it!
Since his appointment in 2011, Shanahan has taken a hard line on player safety and if someone crosses over with an illegal hit, then the infamous 'Shana-ban' will be enforced. Raffi Torres has twice been on the receiving end as his horrendous hit on Martin Havlat whist playing for Phoenix landed him with a 21 game ban (the longest of the 21st century so far!) and last year whilst a San Jose he his illegal check on LA King's Jarret Stoll landed him with a ban from the playoff second round!
Many would use this assignment as a cushy job to keep them in the hockey world, Shanahan however has been praised for his involvement and seems to have a real concern about preventing serious injury. In the old days they were big questions about whether justice was real been delivered and many lengthy bans were repeated overturned (such as Chris Simons stick swing at Ryan Holloweg in 2007). But since introducing video reviews of incidents, Shanahan has helped enforce bans on illegal checks.
His handling of the Leafs v Sabres brawl in pre season deserves particularly high commendation, as he gave out a 7 game ban to Buffalo's man mountain enforcer John Scott for kick starting events and a 10 game ban to newly arrived Leaf David Clarkson who left the bench to get involved in the brawl!
Many my see this as rich coming from a player who clocked up over 2000 penalty minutes during his career, but his passion for the job cannot be denied- and it could be said this may well be his biggest contribution to Hockey (just as Gary Bettman).
Joffrey Lupul is set to be the next Shana-ban victim as he had been summoned over hit on Detroit's Patrick Eaves during the first period of the winter classic, good luck Joffrey, you will need it!
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