Shanahan, who is the NHL's Vice President of Hockey and Business Development took over from Colin Campbell as the league's player disciplinarian. He is responsible for handing out fines & suspensions for on-ice shenanigans.
It's a thankless job where when you make a decision on a player one side will argue the punishment was too stiff and the other side will argue the punishment wasn't strong enough.
This year all eyes were on Shanahan as players and executives were watching to see how he handled discipline compared to his predecessor.
Shanahan was aggressive early in the season with the most notable suspension being the one handed out on Columbus James Wisniewski's hit on Minnesota forward Cal Clutterbuck which resulted in an eight game suspension.
But as the season went on it became harder to figure out what warranted a suspension and what was worthy of a fine as Shanahan's decisions were inconsistent with what his rulings were earlier in the year.
I bring this topic up now because of an incident that happened in Newark Sunday night between Philadelphia and New Jersey. One that's going to cause me to do something I'm never do.
I'm going to stand up for a Philadelphia Flyer.
Near the end of the 2nd period Flyers forward Claude Giroux laid a hit on Devils forward Danius Zubrus as they were going for the puck. The hit resulted with Giroux's shoulder hitting Zubrus's head.
As a result of the hit Giroux was given a penalty for contact to the head. I have no problem with Giroux being penalized on the play. On Monday afternoon we found out Giroux would be suspended for game five of the series with Philadelphia facing elimination.
I have a problem with the suspension.
When you look at the hit at full speed it looks vicious but when you slow it down the hit looks more like two players getting tangled up as they are fighting for the puck.
Now compare that hit to what Nashville defenseman Shea Weber did to Detroit forward Henrik Zetterberg in game one of their first round series.
Weber, who is a repeat offender was only given a $2,500 fine which is the most you can fine a player according to the CBA for slamming Zetterberg's head into the glass.
Meanwhile Giroux, who has a clean record is forced to sit out a game because his shoulder made contact with Zubrus's head.
One of the reasons Weber wasn't suspended was because Zetterberg was OK after the hit and was able to play in game two. Zubrus did come back to play in the 3rd period and eventually scored the game winning goal for New Jersey.
So why was Giroux suspended then? We'll let Brendan Shanahan explain here.
After hearing Shanahan's reasoning I can understand why he gave Giroux a one game suspension. I can't say I agree with it though. Especially after superstars like Weber, Evgeni Malkin, & Alex Ovechkin have committed worse infractions on hits this post-season only to be given a slap on the wrist.
The two minute penalty and a fine should have been sufficient enough as a punishment for Giroux as Zubrus was able to play in the rest of the game. Instead the Flyers best player has to miss game five of the series with his team facing elimination.
It's not so much the ruling I have a problem with. I just want some consistency when these punishments are being handed out.
I don't think that's too much to ask.
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