Colin Campbell and the Demise of the NHL

You gotta love it. Hockey season is in full swing and as of this writing five of the six original teams have winning records. The only exception is the Chicago Blackhawks at 10-10, but we'll let that slide because they are the defending champs, so really all is good with the NHL...or is it?

Actually, the NHL has a really big problem that needs to be addressed post-haste. You will recollect my blog dated March 13, 2010 entitled Colin Campbell and Player Safety. In this entry I questioned Campbell's competence and pointed out he imperils player safety. I stated this for the following reasons, as it relates to his decision not to suspend Matt Cooke for his hit on Marc Savard:

1) You ignored Matt Cooke's track record - he is a repeat offender.
2) You are confused between incidental and intentional contact.
3) Two wrongs do not make it right. You got the Richards incident wrong and you got the Cooke incident wrong as well.
4) Rare player outrage. Credible players across the league such as Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Mark Recchi are surprised at your decision.
5) You are inconsistent in your rulings. Cooke suspensions were meted out when he checked Artem Anisimov and Scott Walker. In the case of Anisimov, the elbow was flagrant; less so with Savard, but the intent to injure was still there.
6) You are incapable of interpreting the rules. Rule 21.1 is applicable here. Either you do not understand the rule or, in the interest of self-preservation, you elected not to apply it.

Quite frankly, I was perplexed by this decision not to suspend Cooke. But I believe we now know why. Check out this email from Colin Campbell to NHL officiating director Stephen Walkom:

To Stephen Walkom/Tor/NHL@NHL
Subject Re: Delayed Penalties/High Sticks 02/#/2007 4:24 pm

A bend in the road is a dead end if you round the corner and Dean Warren is standing there. Your answer re: his high stick calls and the score of the game were horse [bleep]. The 3rd call on [player] was while they were down 5 on 4 and on a def zone face off vs that little fake artist [player] I had him in [city] biggest faker going. And Warren fell for it when he grabbed his face on a face off. Your supposed to see the act, not call the embellishing act. Dean Warren has to go with [referee] There must be a way to get rid of this guy. Is there a way we can tract (sic) and total minors called by referees this year. We could then get the minors they call per game. ... or with 2 [referees on the ice] it is impossible? Warren and [referee] out of [club's] games. Give them to [referees].

Really scary folks, according to the Puck Daddy blog, Campbell is referring to a game between the Bruins and Florida Panthers on February 24, 2007. Let's decode this email, Dean Warren was the referree, Gregory Campbell (Colin Campbell's son) got three minor penalties, and Marc Savard played for Campbell when he coached the New York Rangers. The fake artist being referred to here is Bruins' Marc Savard. So there you have it, you now know why there was no suspension for Matt Cooke's hit on Savard!

Actually, these emails from Campbell are a bit incendiary and cause me great concern about the integrity of the game. Noted Boston Globe Sports Columnist Kevin Paul Dupont wrote an excellent article in the Boston Globe earlier this week about the same subject, you can read it at:
http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/articles/2010/11/16/actions_by_top_nhl_enforcer_should_draw_a_major_penalty/?page=full

In this article Dupont suggests Campbell might be better served by keeping his opinions to himself instead of ranting in an email.

As long as Colin Campbell is in his current role, every NHL game I watch will now be viewed as just a little less than authentic. Colin Campbell must go!

Stay thirsty my friends....