In my previous blog about the incident last Friday between Philadelphia goaltender Ray Emery and Washington goalie Braden Holtby, I provided an NHL Rulebook explanation for the penalties that were assessed under Rule 46.2 (the "Aggressor rule") and why there was no supplemental disciplinary hearing for Emery.
What happened in this case was that referees Dennis LaRue and Francois St. Laurent invoked Rule 46.2 and followed it directly by the book. Based upon precedent, the NHL really had no choice but to not suspend Emery because of the way that particular rule is written.
The Aggressor rule as currently written calls for all penalties to be of the in-game variety (instigation minor, 10-minute misconduct, leaving the crease minor, fighting major, game misconduct) and for supplemental discipline to follow the protocol of accumulated instigation penalties and game misconducts.
Precedent rules the waves here. The NHL set the protocol and now it's living with it in the Emery case. The precedent in past incidents in which players have gotten forced to fight without a choice in the matter has been not to suspend the aggressor for a first offense.
For example, no suspension resulted from the 2009 incident in which, with his team struggling and trailing a game 4-1, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby jumped Florida Panthers forward Brett McLean in the faceoff circle and started punching before the startled opponent had any chance to square up and defend himself.
Now, here's the thing. The explanation I gave you is the by-the-book Rulebook explanation. What I did not give you was my own take on the situation as a former pro player and retired referee. Situations like these make my blood boil, and my own on-ice reaction to a fight as one-sided as the Emery attack on Holtby would not have been "strictly by the book" because that fight was so damn one-sided.
Part of the reason why I clashed frequently with many of my NHL officiating supervisors during my refereeing career is that I believe there is -- or should be -- a humanitarian element to the rulebook. Remember my blog about the Udvari Rule of refereeing? If something would have bothered you as a player, it should also bother you as a referee.
In my opinion, Emery's beatdown of Holtby went on for too long. It crossed the line into the territory where I probably would have imposed a match penalty for intent to injure on top of the aforementioned Rule 46.2 penalties. A match penalty carries an automatic review by the League, and would then have followed a different protocol that would have opened the door for a suspension.
Now, here's something else. As a former player, I was wondering what Washington forward Michael Latta -- the closest Cap, and someone not directly involved in any of the other fights going on during the line brawl -- was doing in not coming to Holtby's aid.
Yes, referee St. Laurent apparently warned Latta to stand back, and he did so. But referees actually have some leeway when it comes to these situations. A third-man-in penalty and game misconduct (Rule 46.16) does not have to applied if there is a match penalty being assessed on the play -- and, again, I personally would have given Emery a match penalty on top of the Aggressor penalty -- OR if the third man in acts strictly as a peacemaker.
In other words, had Latta merely gone in and wrapped up Emery and wrestled him down to prevent him from throwing any further punches, he would not have to be ejected by the referees. Only at the point he would have started throwing punches of his own at Emery, he would become third man in with all the requisite penalties.
More to the point, third man in or not, Latta really should have helped his teammate. As a player, I would not have given a damn if I got a third man in. I was taught to defend your teammates -- and most especially your goalie and star players -- and any cost if they were attacked. If Paul Stewart the player was on the ice and Paul Stewart the referee barked out the "stand back" command, the player would have ignored the warning and had a donnybrook of my own with Emery.
In my playing days the REAL hockey enforcer's code had little or nothing to do with agreeing to a staged fight against your buddy who performs the same role on the other side, patting each other on the back at the end and skating to the box. It had to do with being the number one guy to make sure no one harmed your teammates. It meant not fighting someone defenseless or unwilling, and it meant you stopped fighting if the other guy (willing or not) was in real trouble.
If Paul Stewart the player was on the bench rather than the ice, I may even have come over the boards to get involved (of course, when I played, there wasn't the automatic 10-game suspension rule). To be totally honest, the only deterrent to me in those days that may have kept me on the bench would have been the dough-ray-me (AKA fines) it would have cost me.
Quick aside: Hockey players from my playing era made far, far less money than today's players do. I'm not even just talking about today's NHL players. There are guys in minor league and European hockey today who make far more than than most of us in the WHA and NHL ever made. As a result, my generation of hockey people were generally a real frugal lot. Most hockey guys who came up back then absolutely hated fines. We were so cheap, we wouldn't pay to see the Last Supper with the original cast. When it came to opening our wallets, we made Jack Benny look like the Ford Foundation.
Anyway, if I was refereeing that Philly-Washington game, I would probably have let Latta stay in the game if he had come to Holtby's assistance. I might have heard about it afterwards from my supervisor and certainly would have gotten into it with the Philadelphia bench, but I would not have cared one little bit.
What Emery did on the ice in that situation was wrong. At times like that, there needs to be a moral compass and a "human rulebook" applied beyond just following the written rulebook and its protocols to the letter.
I had some moral compass situations in my playing career where it was one of my own teammates who was in the wrong in an ugly incident on the ice. When I was playing for the Cincinnati Stingers in the WHA, there was an incident in which teammate Butch Deadmarsh speared former Stinger Rich Leduc in the neck area. In the ensuing fallout, I was grabbed by Rosaire Paiement. In that situation, I was not especially inclined to get involved, even though I was a guy who fought a lot.
Final word: I am NOT criticizing LaRue and St. Laurent or even the NHL Player Safety people for following the written rulebook to the letter here. I'm just saying that I would have followed my gut instinct and would have gone beyond the Aggressor rule formula were it my decision.
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Coming tomorrow: One of the biggest reasons for today's spate of injuries and concussions is the padding that most players wear nowadays. Tomorrow, I will discuss how the equipment today is pretty much unsafe at any speed and what I think needs to be done to improve it in the name of genuinely improving -- not compromising -- player safety.
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Recent Blogs by Paul Stewart
Emery and the Aggressor Rule (Rule 46.2)
Hockey Fights Cancer: My Story
Delay of Game: Good Intentions, Bad Rules
Too Many Mississippis: The Hanzal Suspension
Unholy Divers and the Abominable PC Rulebook
The 'Montreal Factor' and Refereeing
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Paul Stewart holds the distinction of being the first U.S.-born person to make it to the NHL as both a player and referee. On March 15, 2003, he became the only American-born referee to officiate in 1,000 NHL games.
Today, Stewart is a judicial and league discipline consultant for the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) and serves as director of hockey officiating for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC).
The longtime referee heads Officiating by Stewart, a consulting, training and evaluation service for officials, while also maintaining a busy schedule as a public speaker, fund raiser and master-of-ceremonies for a host of private, corporate and public events. As a non-hockey venture, he is the owner of Lest We Forget.
Stewart is currently working with a co-author on an autobiography. 
Blogger •Former NHL Referee • 
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