Brendan Shanahan and NHL Have Set the Example on How to Handle Player Discipline

The NHL isn't the most popular sports league in North America, and it certainly can improve in many ways, but one aspect of sports that hockey does better than anyone else is player discipline.

After Colin Campbell was too often criticized for his decisions as league disciplinarian, for reasons such as poor explanations and inconsistency, the league made a brilliant move in replacing him with former NHL star Brendan Shanahan, and giving him the title of NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety.

As a Hall of Fame player who retired not too long ago, Shanahan realizes how fast and physical the sport has become.

From the moment he was called upon to make his first suspension decision, Shanahan ushered in a revolutionary and breakthrough method of handing down player discipline.

Gone are the days of short news releases in which there's some words about who was suspended and for how many games.

The new age of player discipline in hockey involves Shanahan's videos that are incredibly helpful in explaining every possible detail regarding a suspension.

Let's look at why Shanahan's videos are something every sport needs to adopt in some way or another.

"As the Video Shows..."

Brendan Shanahan's videos of suspensions have benefited the game of hockey in a number ways, but perhaps the most positive part about them is the in-depth explanations that do a great job of convincing us that the amount of games given was the right decision.

There's been a few times when I have just seen the headline for a player being suspended, and I think there's no way he deserved that many games, just no way.

However, after looking at the video from Shanahan, he not only breaks down the play in which the suspendable action occurred, he tells us why it was wrong by providing us with the explanation from the NHL's official rule book.

The video I will use to breakdown Shanahan's player discipline decisions will be the suspension video for Brad Marchand that resulted from a January 7, 2012 game in Boston between the Bruins and the Vancouver Canucks

Shanahan covers all angles of the play in this video, including:

• What Marchand should have done, which was a deliver a clean, shoulder to shoulder check
• Examines area of contact (in this case Sami Salo's knee)
• Mentions what rule was broken, the number associated with the rule (so you can look it up in the rulebook if you want), and the description of the rule as it pertains to the incident at hand
• Recognizes player's defense, which in this case was that Marchand was protecting himself by going low
• Examines nature of the play, which in this case included speed, posture, etc.
• Shows that Marchand did the right thing in almost the exact same spot on the ice just a short bit prior to the play in question
• Injury was a factor in the decision on how many games to suspend
• Previous record of fines/suspensions were considered as well
• Summary of key points, rules, etc. that were considered in the decision to suspend the player

That was an incredible explanation of why Marchand was suspended and which aspects of the play were taken into account when determining that the Bruins forward was to be suspended for five games.

First of all, Shanahan does a fine job of telling the viewers what the legal hockey play in this situation would have been, and in this case, it's a clean shoulder to shoulder check. By telling us this, we know that there was an acceptable way of approaching this situation that the player in question ignored.

Second, Shanahan explains which rule was broken and gives us the description of that rule. There are so many rules in hockey, and many of them have multiple parts, but Shanahan goes through the trouble of finding the exact passage of the rule that corresponds with the incident at hand. 

When looking at something such as this, it's important to examine both sides of the argument, which is exactly what Shanahan does in these videos. Marchand could have said that the reason he ducked down and hit Salo at the knees was to protect himself against a hit from Salo, but as the video shows, Salo did not come at Marchand in an aggressive manner.

By this point in the video, Shanahan is starting to make those who doubted his decision at first, start to say, "OK I see where you're coming from, you made the right call." Even Bruins fans, who want their team to play a very physical brand of hockey, could understand that the suspension was deserved because of the information given in the video.

Player Discipline Isn't an Exact Science, so How Can Shanahan Improve?

For starters, consistency in the rulings is going to be a major issue in player discipline, and thus far, I think Shanahan has done a tremendous job in being consistent in his decisions. 

One part of suspensions that some people, including myself, have an issue with is how much of a factor that injuries play in how many games someone is suspended for.

Since injury is taken into account by Shanahan when he's reviewing discipline for a player, you have some teams that rush a player's injury status to the media so the opponent that hurt their player can be suspended for longer. This isn't right and it doesn't benefit anyone involved.

In the video above, Shanahan mentions that Salo suffered an injury as a result of Marchand's clip, and the Canucks made the injury known to the hockey world quite quickly. The team announced Salo had a concussion the day after the game against Boston, likely in an attempt to make the hit look worse and get Marchand a large suspension. This is speculation; I don't know if this was Vancouver's attempt, but it certainly is a possible scenario in any player discipline case.

Compare that situation with the New York Rangers not releasing the injury status of defenseman Ryan McDonagh after he was hit from behind by Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference on January 21. Ference was suspended for three games, but the Rangers did not release the injury information before the suspension was announced. 

The point is, injuries should not be a major factor in determining how long a player is to be suspended for. The severity of the play, the rule broken, the recklessness of the action, and prior history of fines/suspensions should all play a much larger role. Players get injured on clean plays often in hockey, so if a player is to be suspended, the severity of the illegal action should be the largest factor in determining the length of their suspension. 

The Effect on Hockey: Is Shanahan Making the Game Safer?

Hockey is a physical game, and no matter what rule changes you make, players risk suffering serious injuries every game. However, Shanahan is making the game safer by suspending players who break the rules and make the sport more dangerous than it needs to be.

Jason Wooley, a former NHL player and now an agent, spoke to The Sporting News about Shanahan and making the game cleaner.

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Woolley, now an agent, is encouraged by the direction taken so far by Shanahan, his former Red Wings teammate, but he knows that the discipline must be the last line of defense against the kind of plays that shorten careers.

“We’re in the infancy stages, and it may be five, 10 years,” Woolley said. “We’re all looking for the quick fix, and it’s not happening. Hopefully, it catches on and we make this a better, cleaner, safer game. As players, it makes us sick to our stomach when you hurt somebody.”

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By using his in-depth videos to explain suspensions, players will be more aware of what they can and cannot do on the ice. They will understand what hits are legal, and what hits could result in a suspension.

If you don't think the players are aware of the "Shanahammer," as some people have nicknamed his suspensions, then you're wrong.

Rangers forward Brandon Prust, who in HBO's 24/7 series this season was caught telling teammates he didn't want to be suspended for the Winter Classic, is a perfect example of the player's awareness of Shanahan's discipline. Prust wanted to go after an opponent for sucker-punching teammate Michael Del Zotto, but Prust thankfully thought better of it.

The players being aware of Shanahan and his strict approach to making the game safer will eventually make the game cleaner and as a result, and I would expect serious injuries from illegal hits to decline because of this. 

The NHL is not as popular as other leagues such as the NFL, and there are many things hockey could improve on, but player discipline is something hockey does better than any other league.

The NFL, NBA and others should look at the way Shanahan does his suspension videos and use them to create their own videos explaining why a player was suspended for "X" amount of games. These videos really help the players, teams and fans understand why a player was suspended. Too often in sports players are handed suspensions and there's a lack of understanding on why they were disciplined. Shanahan's videos ensure everyone is on the same page.

Shanahan has one of the hardest jobs in hockey, but his in-depth suspension videos are a great step in making hockey a safer sport, and they're also something that other sports can use as a fabulous example of how player discipline should be handled.

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Nicholas Goss is a Boston Bruins Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and was the organization's on-site reporter for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals in Boston.