The NHL hiring Chris Pronger to the Department of Player Safety is loaded with irony. Pronger, the man perhaps most well known for his physical/dirty play, his stomp of Ryan Kesler and continuous bouts with concussion-related symptoms, will slide into a role which will determine punishments for the dirty hits around the league.
It's official: Chris Pronger has been hired to work for @NHLPlayerSafety.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) October 9, 2014
Wait a minute. Isn’t Pronger still earning a check from the Philadelphia Flyers? You bet.
Pronger and his average cap hit of $4,941,429 continues to be factored into the Flyers’ payroll and will until after the 2016-17 season. Though he’s not playing and has all but officially retired, Pronger is a paid member of the Flyers.
Aside from the obvious debate regarding a conflict in interest, there’s the fact this wouldn’t be legal under the collective bargaining agreement.
https://twitter.com/FriedgeHNIC/status/519974470162071552
In order to circumvent this rule, the NHL plans to have Pronger avoid rulings involving the Flyers. It is important to remember that the Department is exactly that – a Department – and is made up of more than one person. Pronger could offer his input and maintain an extreme amount of bias and still be overruled by the rest of the Department.
Still, you have to ask why the NHL would bother with such a headache and all of the questions that come with it when they could easily appoint a different person. Why even open the door to questions when you’re just starting to recover from the miserable era of Colin Campbell? That’s not saying Brendan Shanahan was any better, but the league at least seemed to be slowly trending in a better direction.
It’ll be interesting to see if this move ends up improving the Department over the long haul, but things are certainly off to a rocky start.
