NHL remains consistently inconsistent

Somehow this business about Colin Campbell calling Marc Savard a “little faker,” his ever present obsession about on-ice officials’ performance during games his son Gregory played in, and his outright dislike and distrust of on-ice officials revealed in emails yesterday got swept under the rug.

Hockey fans really should be calling much more loudly for Campbell’s head after reading these kinds of things.  And hockey writers, who’ve let this fall from the front page of major websites, need to get to the bottom of this story and need to get this put back into the front pages.

The NHL, predictably, is standing at Campbell’s side.  As they should.  Much the way an owner or GM will always give a struggling coach a vote of confidence.  It doesn’t change the fact the NHL should be exploring ways to either fire Campbell outright or to change his role.

The so-called discipline Campbell’s handed out during his tenure has been uneven at best, clueless at worse.  It’s been so bad, it’s hard to believe he has the NHL’s best interests in mind at all.  Watching Campbell take a gutless approach to the Mike Richards and Matt Cooke hits last season should have been the final straw for him with the NHL.  His league-endorsed explanation that the hits weren’t “illegal” ignored the very purpose of supplementary discipline.  His handlings of the James Wisniewski gesture and Niklas Hjalmarsson hit-from-behind, and deeming the two acts worthy of equal punishment, were downright embarrassing.

Campbell’s inability to use supplementary discipline to remove from the game, let alone even control players like Cooke, Sean Avery and others should also be a sign he is clearly not suited for the job.

Some folks say his hands are tied by the “old time hockey” mentality that apparently runs rampant among front offices around the league.  These same “old time hockey” types are the guys that allowed rule changes like allowing two-line passes and deciding games with shootouts.  I don’t think they’re rushing to revert to a league without forward passing.

So another day passes with Colin Campbell in charge of supplementary discipline for the National Hockey League, and another day passes where the inmates will very much continue to run the asylum.

Neither Campbell, nor the league will change their tune until a player like Alex Ovechkin or Sidney Crosby gets his leg stomped on by Chris Pronger or has his season ended by a Matt Cooke blindside hit.

And even when that day comes, I don’t have much faith in the league to finally change.

So progressive a week ago, and so regressive today.  Inconsistency is the NHL’s hallmark.

--Steve