In a violent professional sport such as the National Hockey League, sometimes the nature of the violence has to be dissected to protect the players.  Such penalties include minor and major roughing penalties where the player sits in the penalty box from two to five minutes, ejections, fines and suspensions.  One would think there is consistency instead of human judgment to just “eyeball” the punishment needed.  There isn’t.

The former NHL All-Star and three-time Stanley Cup Champion Brendan Shanahan was hired to take over disciplinary duties for the NHL in August of 2011.  

“I played this sport, I understand the passion that’s involved,” Shanahan said during the NHL’s recent research and development camp. “I broke a lot of rules when I played and wasn’t always happy when I got punished — even when I deserved it. I totally understand the passion that’s involved in hockey and it’s one of the reasons why hockey’s a great sport.”

Nothing seems further from the truth than that statement.  Since Shanahan has taken over, his disciplinary actions or lack thereof are seemingly random.  In the regular season, there was plenty of controversy, though nothing was able to compare to the current incidents taking place with discipline in just the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  

Where it starts is with the Shea Weber incident in the first game of the Nashville Predators series against the Detroit Red Wings. Weber (Nashville) took the head of Henrik Zetterberg (Detroit) and smacked it up against the glass, not once, but twice. Yet Weber, a star player for the Predators, received nothing more than a $2,500 fine and no suspension.

Matt Carkner of the Ottawa Senators, who Shanahan even mentions is a repeat offender, jumped on Brian Boyle of the New York Rangers and started punching him repeatedly while Boyle was face down on the ice. Carkner only received a one-game suspension.  

There isn’t enough room in this column to go in-depth, but almost every match-up in both the Western Conference and Eastern Conference games have had questionable actions for or against players and this is just a small example.  

Flash forward to the Chicago Blackhawks vs. Phoenix Coyotes series.  Raffi Torres of the Phoenix Coyotes left his feet to hit an unsuspecting Marian Hossa of the Blackhawks in what was a clear violation of the rules and Shanahan snapped into action to give Torres a 25-game suspension.  

If you were watching the San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues game, you would have noticed countless video replay of Sharks forward T.J. Galiardi leaving his feet to drive Blues Captain Andy McDonald’s head into the glass with his elbow.  To the surprise of the entire world, there was no call on the ice and worse — Brendan Shanahan himself said that there would be no hearing for the incident and from then was dropped.  Regardless of the video evidence and the cracked helmet of McDonald, Shanahan fails to come through with a ruling.

It’s clear that violence is okay in professional hockey; it is the way that it is supervised that it has gotten to a “Wild West” style of physical play because you never know if “Shanaban” is watching or if he will even make a ruling.  There is no clear definition of suspension critique for hits and misconduct.  It is totally reliant upon how NHL officials and disciplinarian Shanahan feels that day and it’s wrong.  

There needs to be a set standard, not a difference in 25 games in order to make your points clear.  Teams are upset and are speaking out daily of the frustrations they have with the inconsistencies while they watch their players take beatings as it seems Shanahan turns a blind eye to.  It has definitely gotten out of control.