Written By: J-Dog
Last Monday, the NHL announced that there will be a change to the league’s code of conduct. The NHL’s commissioner, Gary Betman has introduced four news rules which will eliminate discriminatory and inappropriate behavior in the league. These rules are:
1. Zero tolerance towards unnotified past abuse
2. Mandatory counselling and training for management, coaches and staff members on everything from diversity to anti-bullying.
3. Disciplinary guidelines created to mete out punishment that is severe enough to remedy the situation.
4. A hotline has been introduced that allows players to anonymously notify the league of inappropriate conduct.
These rules have come into fruition after a series of allegations had been made against NHL coaches in the previous weeks.
The first of these allegations being against Mike Babcock, shortly after he was dismissed by the Leafs.
In his time in Toronto, Mike had Mitch Marner (a rookie at the time) write a list of players on the Leafs ranked from least, hardest working. Babcock then revealed this list to the team, telling them that Marner had wrote it.
Probably the most infamous story is when Bill Peters, (ex. Calgary Flames head coach) called one of his former players, Akim Aliu the N word, when he coached the Rockford IceHogs ten years ago.
The Flames accepted Peters’ resignation letter in response to the incident.
Prior to this week, the NHL had no official policy for coaches to be punished regarding off-ice conduct. These new rules will hopefully discourage coaches, management and even players from treating others in an abusive manner.
We hope that these new rules will get rid off all inappropriate conduct in the league. We’ve already seen ex. Dallas Stars coach, Jim Montgomery get fired due to inappropriate conduct.
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