Well it's been an interesting couple of days on the discipline front, first you got the Burrows/Auger situation, then you got the Gonchar hit on Clutterbuck.
First the Gonchar hit:
It seems Campbell likes to talk a lot about getting rid of headshots from the game, yet when an obvious one takes place like this hit, he says this:
Quote:
"Every 5-minute major is not a suspension or a fine. There's gotta be a little bit of passion in the game.
"Cal Clutterbuck leads the League, or is close to leading the League, in hits. He hit Gonchar very hard into the boards prior to that -- real hard. That could have been boarding. Could have been charging. It wasn't. So Gonchar, who's been hurt before and knocked out before and suffered a concussion; he's on the receiving end more than he's on the giving end -- I don't think he's ever been on the giving end -- he went in and it was a 5-minute interference penalty and he hit him with his shoulder.
"We felt the penalty was the penalty. We don't feel [based on] past history that Gonchar deserved to be suspended. Clutterbuck came out and I thought his statement was ridiculous, that somebody's going to ‘get this guy'. Last time I looked, Sergei Gonchar wasn't on too many guys hit lists."
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Past history has to stop being a measuring point for if someone is suspeneded or not, Campbell better stop drinking while deciding these things, because he's making himself look stupid.
Then on to the Burrows/Auger situation, I really don't thik they handled this well, he basically took whatever Auger said as gospel and blamed the whole thing on Burrows. To see those penalties called kind of makes me wonder if Auger did in fact say that to Burrows, I know refs hold grudges, and those calls were both grudge calls in my opinion, here's part of Campbell on the NHL.com radio show
Quote:
NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell was a guest on the NHL Live! radio show Thursday, addressing the recent fine of Vancouver's Alex Burrows for comments about NHL referee Stephane Auger officiating of Monday's game between the Nashville Predators and the Canucks. Here is an edited transcript of Campbell's conservation with hosts E.J. Hradek and Deb Placey.
E.J. Hradek: Did Burrows back off a little bit when he talked to you? Because after a game, the guy is worked up, so did he back off on his comments at all?
COLIN CAMPBELL: He didn't back off on what he said, but he did say that the conversation that Stephane did was in French. I asked Alex if Stephane said to him that he was going to get you. Alex Burrows said it was something like that in French because the conversation took place in French, so that's the first step. Our referee, Stephane Auger, said there was no chance that he said or indicated that it was pay back or whatever you want to say. Alex told Stephane that it's not something to address before the game because, as you see now, it could be used against you if the team doesn't like the calls.
We have this kind of banter all the time. I don't think our League, our players or coaches won't have to say you can't talk to referees, but Stephane was just saying to Alex Burrows before the game -- 'Look, from the previous game, where I assessed the major to the Nashville player, it was based on the fact you were injured and the game misconduct was rescinded, but I watched the video and it didn't look like you were injured. And he said to Alex I don't need you to help me in that context, I was calling a penalty. I didn't need you to help me assess a major, but when you went down like that I don't need that kind of help and I don't appreciate you embellishing plays like that in the future and that was the extent of it.
Deb Placey: I'm so pleased you came on because it sounds like it makes a lot of sense that it was a conversation where one side said something that was a phrase or way of talking and the other side may have misinterpreted it?
COLIN CAMPBELL: I understand very little French, but what's said in one language might be, when interpreted in English, might mean something else. Unless you can get a neutral third party to substantiate these things, it can be tough. If you get into a Rangers-Jersey series, a Philly-Pittsburgh series, it gets pretty passionate, there's a lot of money at stake.
Coaches hate coaches, owners dislike owners and fans are against each other. If someone issues a code or something to the effect, 'He said this about me,' do we then throw that other player into an investigation, throw him off his game. You have to be careful and measure everything in these situations. I don't want to throw either individual under the bus to question his integrity and, first and foremost, our referee works for us. He's worked for 10 years (Auger) and we hold him to a high standard. We've watched his work every single night, so it's not something we take lightly.
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NHL's Campbell talks about Burrows fine - NHL.com - News
EDIT, just saw this on TSN, how is that not third man in on Bradley? Ovechkin clearly dropped his gloves as did Downie, Bradley should have been suspended for third man in.