The NHL and the NHL Players' Association have agreed to launch an initiative to help educate players on domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment issues.
The first presentation educating these issues was delivered on Monday to a number of teams in the league. TSN was the first to report about this initiative.
The league has also hired an outside firm to help deliver the message and to make the presentations to the team, which I believe will really help players get the message. If this information came from the NHL's own people, perhaps players would be less receptive to the issue. If it came from the outside source, like a lawyer or someone involved in these issues, maybe players will perhaps listen a little bit more and learn how to conduct themselves when around others, especially women.
Much like the NFL went through, the NHL has been under recent scrutiny as a result of multiple players entangled in sexual assault and domestic violence investigations.
The first presentation for this initiative was delivered in Buffalo, where a Buffalo Sabres player, Evander Kane, is under investigation for an incident last month in a Buffalo hotel room. The Blackhawks star forward Patrick Kane was also subject to a similar investigation over the summer after a woman reported an alleged sexual assault to the police. Then there was Slava Voynov, a LA Kings forward, who was in an October 2014 incident involving his wife. He received jail time after a no-contest plea in a misdemeanor domestic violence charge in July. He has since moved back to Russia after being suspended by the NHL and there's no chance he will be coming back to the NHL soon.
I think this initiative was inevitable. If there is these many domestic violence charges over a short period of time, the scrutiny would definitely be on the NHL. I think the initiative will help educate players about how to conduct themselves and when they should leave the situation or not be involved. Sports always gets the publicity when it comes to these sorts of issues because they are expected to perform at high standards and we, as a public, will not tolerate play if it isn't all at 100%, and I think the pressure on the players doesn't translate well into their personal lives and they are involved in stuff like these. So the NHL definitely did the right thing in helping put this together to help educate the players about sexual assault and domestic violence, so it'll be interesting to see if the players will get the message and be taught a little bit more about how to act and when to leave the situation.
There's also something else that the league and the public are missing. We need to stop holding players to such high standards. I understand that, from a GM perspective and a fan's, you want your players to perform day-in and day-out at 100%. But people can't go 100% on a day-to-day basis. Believe me, I've been through it in my work life. Being able to perform at such a high level can drain you, and sometimes, we need rest before we are able to perform at such a high level. So I think the league would also need to address that aspect of the game, because if players are feeling the pressure to perform at such a high level, we need to help them relax and recover. Like Will Smith in Concussion said, "Men are not machines. We must honor our warriors." (Concussion) That's what I feel the league is not doing. They are doing the right thing in educating the players about sexual assault and domestic violence, but they also need to address the high standards that the players are constantly put through and expected to perform at. I love people a lot, and I just want them to have a good life without feeling the need to perform at high expectations. We're all human, and we need to remember that.
The NHL still has a lot of work cut out for them, but they are starting on the right foot by educating players about the current issues they are facing. But they also need to let players get their rest or cut back on the high standards that the leagues set out. We're only humans, not machines. So good for the NHL to get the ball rolling on the domestic violence and sexual assault issues, but they are not done yet, in my view.
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