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Thursday, 22 December 2011 15:58

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

The NHL sends a Merry Christmas to the Penguins and Deryk Engelland.

NHL discipline czar Brendan Shanahan suspended Deryk Engelland three games for a hit to the head of Blackhawks forward Marcus Kruger during the first period of a game Tuesday. Engelland was not penalized for the hit. Kruger suffered a concussion.

Shanahan's explanation of the suspension:

EN Says: We don't disagree with Engelland being suspended or the lenght of his suspension, but where is the consistency? Compare Engelland's hit to a hit by Philadelphia's Zac Rinaldo on the Penguins' Robert Bortuzzo earlier this month:

Bortuzzo was concussed on the play and has not played since.

Shanahan can put on a nice suit and put out fancy videos all he wants, but it's all just window dressing to mask the inconsistency from his office.

Comments (15)

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written by tennpen, December 22, 2011 - 02:09 PM

I call Shan-nanigans! No problem with suspending players for bad hits but we have seen worse cases go unpunished this season. b*llsh*t , garage league. I'm sick of the NHL 's in-game officiating and their supplemental discipline, what a joke of a pro sports league

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written by kpa42, December 22, 2011 - 02:13 PM

Similarly. I'm ok with three games.

I'm really, really, really not ok with the complete lack of consistency. It's reprehensible at this point.

Head shots. Get rid of 'em. It might open up new logistical problems, but it will get rid of the grey area surrounding hits to the grey matter.

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written by tennpen, December 22, 2011 - 02:29 PM

I would have no problem with this but the fact that Cooke and Bortuzzo have both taken blatant and what looks to me intentional elbows to the head in the past couple months and no suspension for the offending player. This is no more consistent than when Colin-blow was running the show. Absolute garbage from the NHL office

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written by bastage42, December 22, 2011 - 02:43 PM

Fully agree with the suspension, maybe even a little stiffer but first time offender etc. etc.

The consistency is non-existent. I vote for the EN Garage League stamp of disapproval to reassert itself with the next inconsistent call (so, give it about 15 minutes ....).

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written by Luiz Mello, December 22, 2011 - 02:48 PM

What kpa42 said. Ban head shots, period.

That way, you significantly reduce the leeway for interpretation by both the on-ice referees and the NHL disciplinary powers-that-be.

Would black and white guidelines completely eliminate bad calls and inconsistent decisions? No, they wouldn't. But those would decrease significantly, and whenever they happened there would be clear ground for criticism/appeals/etc.

Also, there's that "small" matter of increasing player safety, in case the League is interested.

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written by Luiz Mello, December 22, 2011 - 02:56 PM

Seth, from my fan perspective, one thing that stings about these inconsistent decisions is the apparent lack of accountabilty of whoever is in Shanahan's position.

Does anyone ask to his face what's the difference between Engelland's hit and Rinaldo's hit (and other comparable hits that went unpunished)?

Plus, it does seem to me that Shanahan's work has slipped after a promising start. It might be just that in the beginning he simply wasn't in charge long enough to be inconsistent. But I also wonder whether he started to succumb to pressure at some point.

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written by Hobbs5, December 22, 2011 - 03:06 PM

*t sure didn't help that Versus spent half the intermission focusing on it,and then again, Pierre asking the coach of the other team if he thinks England should be suspended as well. The coach was like what ??? Anyways, I feel 3 games is way to many. The guy who took Letang out got what, a fine ?? Maybe he got a 2 game suspension, I can't recall. Regardless, I think you get my point. It is what it is, but I didn't care for Versus repeating it a dozen times. I knew he would get nailed because of that. I hate Versus.

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written by jethro, December 22, 2011 - 04:12 PM

I figured two games. But this seems reasonable.

Shanny gave us 3 "launches" so I got that one right.

BTW, Pierre Maguire had no impact on this decision. That is just silly.

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written by leahbackus, December 22, 2011 - 04:21 PM

I was discussing this with my husband and he had an excellent point. The league needs to take certain factors *out* of the supplementary discipline decision. It shouldn't matter whether a player was injured, whether the game was on national TV, or whether the offender is a star or a lesser-known position player. Those things seem to be affecting disciplinary decisions way more than they should. My suggestion at this point is to flood the league with *polite* communications expressing our discontent as fans with the farce they're putting forward as a fair system of discipline.

The address of the league office is:
1251 Avenue of the Americas
47th Floor
New York, NY 10020

Brendan Shanahan's Twitter handle is: @NHLShanahan

No public email other than a form at nhl.com.

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written by a guest, December 22, 2011 - 04:22 PM

Pens fan here who is going to agree with Shanny on this one. I do see differences between the two hits shown above. First, Kruger was already engaged with Dupers. Second, Engelland left his feet. Third, I can't say for certain that Rinaldo targeted the head on his hit. From those camera angles, it could be the upper arm & shoulder that got driven into the head.

Don't forget to read between the lines. If Engelland was a repeat offender, Shanny would have thrown the book at him - I'll guess 8-10 games.

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written by tennpen, December 22, 2011 - 05:46 PM

I think it should be like the high-stick call, very rarely do u see a disputed high-stick. Even if the player is falling and flailing his stick around, if it results in a high-stick its a penalty. May not like the call, but its black-and-white and its consistent. if not, at least get a multi-person panel, Leaving discipline up to 1 guys opinion is a crap idea

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written by Strohs58, December 22, 2011 - 06:21 PM

3 games is too many games for a 1st offense. I used to respect Shanahan as a player... can't say the same for his new role.

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written by Hobbs5, December 22, 2011 - 06:40 PM

My bad, it was 3 games that Pacioretty got suspended. I would have to call it a fair suspension. I still think Dupuis turned Kruger into England, where as it would have been the shoulder, but that point is irrelevant. He should have still pulled up.

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written by Luiz Mello, December 22, 2011 - 08:25 PM

@tenpen, you nailed it. The high stick call is a good example of how things should be handled.

Black and white criteria, if it draws blood there are specific consequences and so on. A player is always responsible for his his stick handling.

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written by djbst75, December 22, 2011 - 10:09 PM

Well the thing is that Puckdaddy didn't wage a campaign to get Rinaldo suspended or Kronwall.

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