Brendan Shanahan: New NHL Sheriff Doles Out 2 Preseason Suspensions

Former superstar Brendan Shanahan took over the reins as the NHL's chief player disciplinarian this past June with a mission. 

As the Senior Vice President of Player Safety and Hockey Operations, Shanahan made it his goal to reduce blindside blows to the head, limit the amount of players suffering concussions and to further emphasize that illegality of boarding when the player being hit is absolutely defenseless. 

It is a daunting task, especially when the previous head of player safety, Colin Campbell, was severely scrutinized for the length, intent and seemingly unbiased nature of his suspensions after illegal checks and misconduct. 

Shanahan wasted no time laying down the new laws of the NHL, suspending two players—Flyers enforcer Jody Shelley and Flames winger Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond—in preseason action on Thursday, September 22. 

Shelley was suspended all of the remaining games in the preseason and five regular season games for his hit on Darryl Boyce. Letourneau-Leblond was also suspended all of the preseason plus one regular season game for Calgary after he delivered an illegal boarding hit on Vancouver forward Matt Clackson. 

Although the actual suspensions are interesting themselves, the real interesting piece of this whole preseason-suspension puzzle is how Shanahan delivered and handed down his  suspensions.That's right, Shanahan took the reins by saying that he was the one who suspended the players, not some mysterious room of NHL execs. 

Shanahan released two separate videos on NHL.com where he went over every part of the infractions and told the viewers exactly why he suspended each player and the reason for the length on each suspension.

These videos (which can be seen in the links above) were clear and concise, which is a great sign for hockey fans around the league. They contained information about the severity of the hit, the previous nature of the hitting player, and whether or not the player was injured on the play. All of these qualifications make up the length of the suspension, according to Shanahan. 

Previously under the Campbell regime, it always seemed like something shady was occurring whenever a player got suspended. Some offenses would go completely unnoticed, while others would be severely punished without much rhyme or reason for the lengths given on each suspension.

The new Shanahan-led discipline program is a step in the right direction for the NHL. It is always good to see a no-nonsense person in charge of making such big decisions.

Shanny proved he is that person after he handed out these early, but fair suspensions.