Many, including me, have noticed an uptick in suspensions handed out by the new head of discipline in the NHL, Brendan Shanahan. Let’s take a look at the amount of suspensions this year so far versus last year:
2011-2012 (from Wikipedia):
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2010-2011 (from Wikipedia):
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Well, one thing you’ll notice is that, yes there are more suspensions this year, but the vast majority of them came during the preseason. Right now, there’s only one suspension this regular season. Compare that to the four that were doled out in the same amount of time last year. Now, I know this isn’t a lot of time to really make a definitive answer (My Center Ice preview hasn’t even ended yet!), but it looks like Shanahan has tried to set a precedent early. I’ve heard the argument that this uptick can be attributed to rule changes, but when you look at what’s being considered a punishable offense this year, it doesn’t seem to differ too much from last. Shanahan doesn’t seem to be focusing on head hits. I was certainly sketpical during preseason, but it looks like the right precedent has been set and we should see less shenanigans in 2011-2012.