Some of the harshest criticism on Brendan Shanahan’s performance as VP of Player Safety.
We often question or deride each others’ credentials as a fan based on a position taken in the past which proved to be wrong. So we often take a moment to present our bona fides when discussing issues or presenting an opinion, ie: “I hated the Gomez (Chelios, Roy, LeClair-Desjardins, …) trade from the moment it was announced.”
“I can’t believe the Canadiens drafted Fischer (Chouinard, Kostitsyn,…), I knew at the time they should instead have drafted ….”
“I loved the Erik Cole (Alexei Emelin, Jeff Halpern, …) signing from day one.”
Well, in this case, I need to come out and admit that I had full confidence in Brendan Shanahan when he was appointed. I snorted at others who pointed out, presciently, the he himself was a borderline thug who was suspended multiple times. I figured his track record on the competition committee ensured he would be a breath of fresh air, and that he couldn’t possibly be worse than the fatally-biased and under-equipped Colin Campbell. Right?
Well I admit now that I was wrong, and the naysayers were right. The naysayers were right when I and a few others got all excited in the pre-season when he doled out ‘record’ suspensions, and they cautioned us to wait until a ‘star’ had to account for an act of violence, and to wait until the games mattered. You were right, crusty curmudgeons and cynics. I was naive, I bought the Big Lie, I drank the Kool-Aid. It is business as usual. Jeremy Jacobs, Colin Campbell and Don Cherry are still steering the ship.
Mea maxima culpa.
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