This year, and this years playoffs have brought violence and respect for other players into the spot light of the NHL. A lot of people think Shanahan has failed as a disciplinarian this year, especially after his strict preseason. Unfortunately as games started to mean something Shanahans willingness to affect a teams situation by directly disciplining a player with deserved discipline has dwindled down to almost nothing. We saw it in the Weber fine, and the Asham 4 game suspension compared to Neals one. Now I am not saying Asham didn't deserve 4 just that there seems to be disparity in supplemental discipline.

Now these issues are fairly well known and talked about openly. Some say players should police themselves, others believe the NHL has to step in and police the game with stronger supplemental discipline. There is an article on Yahoo! sports by Cotsonika that can be found here. I saw this article and it got me thinking, was it the NHL discipline that changed Cookes behavior, or was it the fear that his owner wouldn't stand for his behavior and force him out of an organization? That thought makes me wonder if it is time that organizations start laying down the law, providing their own supplemental discipline or at least openly criticizing dangerous play by its own players. There is a difference between blindly supporting your players and being responsible for the actions of players your organization choose to represent them. Lemieux was openly critical of Cooke last year, as he was openly disappointed in his players in game 3 of the Pit vs Philly series. I think it is time for more then the players to get on board, if the kids can't play nice at school their parents need to discipline them, the NHL is the the principal, the owners and management the parents. Thoughts?