Breaking the Law

I wrote earlier today that I would not be surprised if the league decided to make an example out of Aaron Rome. The NHL has a history of being woefully inconsistent with their brand of justice, and there is a tangible double standard--one for the stars of the league and one for everyone else.

Take, for example, the much ballyhooed hit from Boston Bruins' Captain Zdeno Chara on Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty earlier this season. It made highlight reels around the country and had some Montreal fans calling the police to report an assault. It was the play where Chara ran Pacioretty into a stanchion at the end of the players' bench. Pacioretty's season was ended on the play thanks to fractures in his neck and a severe concussion.

Finding a consensus on that hit was extremely difficult, and getting an objective viewpoint from either Bruins or Habs' fanbases was virtually impossible. My own point of view is that it was a tad on the late side, and while Chara certainly meant to finish a check on vulnerable Pacioretty, he clearly never intended to injure the forward in the fashion that he did. The fact that Chara had absolutely no record of this kind of activity leant credence to that. In the end, Chara--a star player--was let off the hook with not even so much as a fine, much to the chagrin of the Canadiens fanbase.

Flash forward to Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final last night and we have something of a similar situation, except this time it wasn't a star player(Chara) hitting a rookie(Pacioretty). It was a journeyman defensemen(Canucks' defensemen Aaron Rome) hitting a star player(Bruins' forward Nathan Horton).

The circumstances were similar. Rome delivered a hit that was on the late side and it has ended Nathan Horton's season. Rome, much like Chara before him, has absolutely no record with the NHL. He has never been accused by anyone in the league or the media of being a dirty player. He is a meat and potatoes player who is very popular with players and coaching staff alike. While--again, like Chara--it was clear that he meant to finish his check, it was also clear that he never meant to injure Horton in the fashion he did.

The NHL's response? A 4-game suspension that will keep Rome out for the remainder of the playoffs, much like Horton is now prohibited from playing again in the Finals due to a severe concussion.

Now, I don't necessarilly disagree that supplemental discipline was in order for Rome. But if you agree with the adage sometimes thrown around that a 1 game suspension in the playoffs is equal to two or three games in the regular season, than you might also accept that Rome's punishment was quite steep--especially for a player with no prior history whom everyone, including the league's own disciplinarian in this case--Mike Murphy--said was maybe only a second, or even a fraction of a second too late in his hit.

So this "one second" delay warrants the biggest suspension ever levied in a Stanley Cup Final?

To me, this smacks of the NHL picking a no-name player to make an example of. The NHL is "putting its foot down" with respect to late hits, hits that cause concussions and hits that make contact with the head.

Again, I am not defending Rome's hit--but I am saying that the consistency of the NHL's brand of discipline is questionable at best. If a star player crunches a no-name player, there is no suspension. You could even argue that when a no-name player crunches another no-name player, there is no suspension. See the previous round against San Jose when Sharks' forward Jamie McGinn hit Aaron Rome (yes, the same man) squarely in the numbers and drove him into the boards. Rome missed two games with a concussion. McGinn got nothing.

You see where inconsistency comes into play?

Now, Aaron Rome is an interesting figure. He has been something of a lightning rod for controversy and criticism this season amongst Canuck fans. Last off-season, the Canucks made two celebrated acquisitions for the blueline--Dan Hamhuis and Keith Ballard. One of the long standing mysteries of the 2010-2011 season has been what exactly does Keith Ballard need to do to remain in the lineup? Here you have a player who was a top four, 20+ minute-a-night defensemen everywhere he was been. A defender consistently capable of playing 82-games and putting up 20+ points while being mobile, strong with the puck and surprisingly gritty.

In contrast, you have Rome. Who's 49 games, 0 goals and 4 assists in 2009-2010 were all career highs. This was a player signed to play a depth role, as a spare part.

Yet on almost any given night, given a choice between the two, the Canucks opted for Rome. When there was a choice of who to put in the lineup, Rome would almost always slot in before Ballard. When both players were in the lineup, Rome would almost always get more ice-time than Ballard. This in spite of a consensus edge in skill and ability belonging to Ballard.

This has resulted in a lot of criticism coming Rome's way. My own view is that Rome is actually a solid defensemen; he goes out and he plays a safe game when he plays within his limitations. But it's when he is asked to play a bigger role that the warts in his game show through. Take, for example, Game 2 of the Final. With Dan Hamhuis out due to injury, Rome was asked to play a bigger role. In such a role, you need to be a little quicker, a little smarter, and a little more creative with the puck and your positioning. Rome--in spite of all his good qualities--is not really any of those.

So he was in over his head. And now, perhaps even as a result of that, he will be watching from the sidelines as his teammates fight to win the Stanley Cup. And now, the Canucks' coaching staff is virtually forced to employ their prized off-season acquisition in Keith Ballard, who has yet to play a game in this Stanley Cup Final.

It is a crushing end to Rome's season. No doubt there are some who are happy that he will be out of the lineup, as they felt that--based on merit and skill--he should have been some time ago. And they may well be right.

But to have Rome cast from the lineup due to the incompetence and inconsistency of the long arm of the NHL law is a shame for a player who has had nothing come easy and has had to work hard to earn his way into a regular role on the best team in the NHL this season. It is not fair that Rome receives different treatment than a star in this league would.

So if the Canucks need a rallying cry heading into Game 4 tomorrow, on the heels of their worst loss of the season, maybe that's it: do it for Rome.