Department of Player Safety To Come Under Fire At GM Mettings

The NHL's Department of Player Safety has been under fire from fans and hockey people alike for years now. But it's reached a new level this season. Inconsistency in its decisions has caused confusion and frustration all over the sport. 

Now, as the GM Meetings are set to take place next week, the DoPS will be one of the most heated topics to be discussed, as noted by insider Darren Dreger on TSN's Insider Trading.

It could get fiery at the meetings next week… we know that the general managers have questions, they have concerns. Consistency is always challenged — why is one suspension five games and another suspension is one or two games for a similar act? The Department of Player Safety will come under fire next week.

Dreger's fellow TSN Insider Pierre LeBrun expanded on that in The Athletic today, noting that player safety has been a hot-button topic much more this season than in previous years. "The player safety group, led by George Parros, always presents to the GMs at their meetings, but next week’s presentation will be a more expansive discussion given the controversial events that have transpired this season."

He refers specifically to the Toronto Maple Leafs' Morgan Rielly's five-game suspension for his confrontation with the Ottawa Senators' Ridley Greig after the infamous slapshot into the empty net, as well as other incidents that have involved Nick Cousins, Charlie McAvoy, David Perron, Brendan Gallagher and Jacob Trouba. 

LeBrun speaks for all of us when he says he would "love to be a fly on the wall" for those heated discussions.