LeBlond, Shelley Suspended; Made Examples Of

  The first two players to be made examples of under the new Disciplinary and Player Safety Committee, headed by former NHL forward Brendan Shanahan, have been handed suspensions before the season has officially begun.

  The hits were obviously infringements under the NHL’s modified boarding rule, Rule Number #41, as outlined just days ago in an example video distributed by the NHL and NHLPA.

  The interesting topic is how Brendan Shanahan has decided to approach his rulings. Shanahan released a video along with Mathieu Schneider early this week describing and analyzing video of past hits that are deemed legal vs. illegal. The approach was fantastic, and he has continued to take a very outward and verbal approach to the league, fans, and players so that there is no question going forward. Senior VP of player safety for the National Hockey League, Brendan Shanahan, has released two separate videos on these two incidents and why he called them the way he did. This is something the league has needed, and I think there couldn’t be any better way to do it.

  Calgary Flames tough guy Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond was the first victim of Shanahan’s after a hit from behind in Tuesday night’s pre-season game against the Vancouver Canucks. The hit was delivered to Canucks forward Matt Clackson 14:47 into the third period, resulting in Leblond receiving a 2 minute minor for boarding, and a 10 minute misconduct penalty. The two had fought in the first period prior to the hit.

"Letourneau-Leblond took a direct route toward Clackson, hit him squarely from behind into the boards and drove through the check high and hard," Shanahan said in a video statement. "Clackson's back was turned toward Letourneau-Leblond well before the contract, requiring that Letourneau-Leblond avoid or minimize the check completely. He did neither."

  He decided Thursday that Leblond will sit for four pre-season games, and one regular season game. The fact that LeBlond has a history as a repeat offender didn’t help his case. Under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement this can be considered, as he was suspended once last year. The CBA also states that his pay will be cut on an average of games played (82) rather than the number of days (185) in the regular season. He will forfeit $6,402.44, which will be paid to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

  Jody Shelley found himself, once again, on the bad list of the NHL’s Disciplinary Committee. It was also announced on Thursday that Flyers’ tough guy Shelley has been suspended for five pre-season games, and five regular season games for a hit from behind in Wednesday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

  The violent hit from behind by Shelley left Darryl Boyce with a broken nose, and Shelley going first to fist with Toronto’s hard-hitting tough guy, Jay Rosehill. Shelley was bloodied during the ensuing fight .

  Shelley was given a 5 minute major boarding penalty, along with a 5 minute fighting major, and a game misconduct. Things didn’t get much better for the 35 year old as Shanahan laid down the law once again with an even harsher suspension than that of which LeBlond received.

  Shelley, too, is a repeat offender having been suspended two separate times during the course of last season. He has been suspended for the remainder of pre-season (five games for the Flyers), and the first five games of the regular season. Shelley will be eligible to return on October 20th against the Washington Capitals, and will take a $67,073.15 hit in missed pay for his time out under the terms of the CBA.

"Shelley hit Boyce squarely from behind into the glass," Brendan Shanahan said. "Boyce's back was turned toward Shelley well before the contact, requiring that Shelley avoid or minimize the check. He did neither. Shelley's two suspensions last season weighed heavily in this decision," he added.

  It’s great to see things be handled in such a way by the NHL, it has been due for a large amount of transparency to the fans and players on key issues such as these.

  It intrigues me to think of what is next, and how future situations will be handled. The two suspensions were both from the boarding perspective, and although I’d be much happier to never see another head-shot again, I’m wondering how Shanahan and Co. will handle it.

  What I really want to know is; what happens when it’s a star player? When a player has a past of being a repeat offender it’s quite easy to throw the book at him, but at some point an elite player, a household name, is going to run someone into the boards in the wrong way. How will it be handled then?

  If these guys do their job, and do it consistently, the NHL will be a much better game.

- Kendall Grubbs


Images from AP Photo and Getty Images. Video from NHL.com.