It appears the NHL has put a leash on its warden Colin Campbell. How else would you explain the light punishment handed out to Ryan Hollweg?
Now I know exactly what Yogi Berra meant when he coined the phrase "déjà vu all over again".
Seems every hockey season, especially every early hockey season, some lunkhead with a longtime reputation for being a lunkhead goes off and splatters some opponent with a stupid, needless hit from behind.
The usual "I'm sorry" ensues, followed by the "I didn't mean it" and the eventual "he turned" excuse comes into play.
The media howls in protest and cites the need for change before someone 's seriously injured or, worst of all worst-case scenarios, someone's killed.
Right about then, the National Hockey League announces a hearing. The debate about length of suspension is launched followed by the debate -- after the ruling is handed down -- as to whether or not NHL prefect of discipline Colin Campbell was too lenient or not tough enough.
The nation then holds its collective breath awaiting what the guy on Saturday Night Live Hockey has to say. Then, everyone splits off into their respective camps and the issues goes dormant until yet another lunkhead commits yet another assault and the cycle start anew.
Ah… but this time it's different. This time, when Toronto lunkhead Ryan Hollweg, a repeat offender who has worked his reputation up to a serial hit-from-behind man, leveled St. Louis Blues defenceman Alex Pieterangelo, something was going to change right?
In a word: no.
No cries of outrage, most, if not all the parties involved argue that while the hit was "disturbing" it fell into that grey area of "I've seen worse" and Pieterangelo "may have turned at the last moment" and that he (Pieterangelo) got up and played his next shift."
As a result Hollweg "got off "with a warning (said to be a stern one, but that's hard to argue after you've heard it oh say 1000 times before and it becomes clear that well has been pumped dry) and yet another three-game suspension, the entry-level penalty for this kind of misconduct is announced.
If there is anything noticeably different here it's not of the good variety. If we can draw a conclusion it would be that it is now abundantly clear that the harsh penalty phase of Campbell's career has effectively been ended by the powers above him.
You might remember that early last season Campbell took it upon himself to start handing out big-time suspensions for what he said at the time was behavior that simply had to stop. 15-, 20- and 25-game suspensions suddenly became the norm. Owners and general managers howled, but Campbell, clearly fed up with the unending disrespect certain kinds of players had for others, had drawn a line.
Towards the end of last season we saw that line begin to wiggle (see the Chris Pronger ruling in which the league determined was a foot drop and not a deliberate stomping of a defenseless opponent). Under this latest ruling the line has now disappeared.
Hollweg's repeat offender status is a status he "earned" by pounding Shawn Horcoff (Edmonton), Sergei Kostitsyn (Montreal), Jay McKee (St. Louis) and Pietrangelo (St. Louis) head-first into the boards via hits from behind.
The hits have all come within a calendar year.
The league used to be on record as frowning on that.
You might also remember that Hollweg's year of destruction kicked off with a memorable cheap shot hit from behind on Chris Simon, then of the New York Islanders. Like Pietrangelo, Simon got up, but unlike the St. Louis forward, Simon took matters into his own hands. He hammered Hollweg with a baseball-like swing of his stick, catching Hollweg's chin the way B. J. Upton gets hold of a Boston Red Sox pitch. Simon got one of those 25-game suspensions, a decision that, in hindsight, served only to obscure the fact that Hollweg was the problem in that he delivered the original intent to injure via what is now his trademark contribution to hockey, a hit from behind
What, you thought he might actually contribute to scoring, defence or even team chemistry? This is a man that in four NHL seasons has contributed all of 12 points, a plus-minus number of minus-26 and 326 penalty minutes. He also got away clean on the Simon hit.
As for all those follow-up hits, two as a New York Ranger and now two more as a Maple Leaf , they've all come within a mere 41 games. Hard to argue that there isn't a pattern formed. Yet despite the repeat offences and despite the fact that there is ample precedent in NHL rulings about repeat offenders getting harsher treatment; Hollweg is given a mere three-games and a warning shot.
Clearly something has changed and it's not for the better health of NHL players.
Seldom in the long history of a league long troubled by these kinds of incidents has a player presented himself as such a near-perfect target for a clear statement regards supplemental discipline involving a major suspension. Was it the worst hit we've ever seen? No, but given the history, Hollweg has established his reputation alone cries out for a ruling that says "this stops now".
Problem is, that opportunity appears to have been taken out of Campbell's hands and as a result, he's had to resort to three-games and a warning that there could be four in his future, maybe more. A neutered call if there ever was one.
It's also a warning that no one, likely including Hollweg, will take seriously.
A player whose only contribution to hockey to date has been a penchant for hitting with intent injure has been told he better stop or else: Or else what, a sterner warning?
That's going to serve as a deterrent?
Let the déjà vu begin all over again.
