MANALAPAN, Fla. — This was George Parros standing up for himself and his teammates, which he has commendably made a career of doing.
The former pugilist, who’s now in his eighth season as senior vice president of the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, had no choice but to do it after the league’s biggest superstar, Connor McDavid, justifiably called into question the process of how supplemental discipline is meted out.
“I think player safety has done their best,” the Oilers captain said on Sunday. “It’s not an easy thing to do. With that being said, I think there is reason to take a look at how the whole process works.
“If every time there’s a suspension, everybody complains about it, why don’t we take a look at the process and figure out if there’s a better way to make sure both parties are happy? It seems like there’s a lot of frustration there.”
Gudas was given a phone hearing, which led to a five-game suspension — the maximum permitted after a hearing that doesn’t occur in person. That incited McDavid’s comments, as well as an outraged reaction from the Maple Leafs and Matthews’ agent.
“Listen, is anybody surprised that an agent is going to stand up for his player? I’m not,” said Parros, who was addressing reporters Tuesday prior to the second of three NHL general manager meetings scheduled at the Eau Palm Beach and Resort this week.
“There’s nasty stuff that gets said out there in the social-media world, but it’s not my concern,” Parros added.
As for the process McDavid said requires review, Parros defended his department, which includes former NHL star Ryan Getzlaf and Patrick Burke.
“We sweat over these decisions and pore over these decisions every night, all season long,” Parros said. “We have a process in place that’s consistent, and we have a team that works for me, and together with me, that evaluates all these plays. A very experienced team, a veteran team, guys that have been there since the beginning of the department. Not to mention all the former players that have a large set of experiences playing NHL games, accolades. Some of the best guys that have played the game work for this department help make decisions. So, our process, I feel very confident in. We’ve got great guys who make these decisions, and I think the players should be confident in these teams to do so.”
Parros had no regrets for how the Gudas file was handled.
“I feel confident in this decision,” the 46-year-old said. “We came to it for good reason. When we evaluate these plays, we look at the play, not the players. And when we determine if this is play is worthy of supplemental discipline, we then look at the history of the players involved and if there’s an injury or not. This is how we come to make all of our decisions. We did this and made the decision under those circumstances, felt that this was the appropriate response, and we stand by it.”
It’s not the only one that’s come under scrutiny this season.
As is typical of any season, the incidents that don’t end up being suspended often come under the heaviest fire — like this one from Florida Panthers forward Sandis Vilmanis on Boston Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy.
Or how about this one, which saw New York Islanders forward Mathew Barzal avenge a hit on rookie teammate Matthew Schaefer by taking a two-handed axe swing at the under-protected part of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Mason Marchment’s foot?
Barzal was ejected from the game and levied a $5,000 fine by DoPS for slashing — the maximum under the CBA — and it was hard to argue the punishment fit the crime.
While the punishment Gudas received for his knee on Matthews could be seen as fair based on precedent, his suspension history, coupled with the injury he caused to Matthews, could’ve — and arguably should’ve — made it more severe.
Even if Parros didn’t agree.
“We have incidents like this all the time,” he said. “There’s always a couple that are going to be lightning rods, but in general, we make a lot of decisions that are accepted, that are anticipated, and the players, I think, do know where the line is. I trust our players to a great degree out there. This game is so fast, and things happen so quickly, and they play this game so responsibly under the circumstances it’s impressive. So, I do think that they play this game with a great degree of responsibility, physicality, skills, speed. That all has changed quite dramatically over a number of years, and they do a really great job of it. So I think that they do understand where that line is. We can disagree on certain lengths of suspensions and things of that nature, however I’m very confident and very satisfied with where the game is at in general right now.”
Still, it could be better, and Parros agreed DoPS should strive to make it so.
“There’s no ego in this department,” he said. “We’re always looking to improve if there’s room for it. This is a collaborative effort with the general managers. In an environment like this, we get together, we work on the game, and if there’s issues in the game that need to be fixed, we’re more than willing to do that. And if that involves our process, we can talk about that too.
“We are dictated by the CBA to look at these plays in the manner that I suggested, past precedent and all these other things that are negotiated with the (players’) union. Like I said, we feel very confident in this process. We’ve been doing it for a long time. That doesn’t mean that we’re not willing to evolve if we need to. And like I said, we’re always looking to improve things if possible. That’s what these meetings are for — things like that. I don’t think you can negate the fact that the game is going pretty well. This game is as fast and as skilled as it’s ever been.”
