George Parros: ‘I feel very confident in’ NHL Department of Player Safety rulings

After facing criticism from Edmonton Oilers superstar Connor McDavid, head of the NHL Department of Player Safety George Parros made rare public comments during a media availability on Tuesday morning to defend the department.

“Our process, I feel very confident in,” Parros said. “We’ve got great guys who make these decisions, and I think the players should be confident in this team to do so.”

The Department of Player Safety has again become a hot topic in the wake of Radko Gudas receiving a five-game suspension for a knee-on-knee hit that ended the season of Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews.

While the suspension was lengthy, it was the maximum possible punishment for the play because Parros opted to give Gudas a hearing over the phone rather than hold an in-person hearing, which would allow the department to dole out a more severe punishment.

Gudas also does not meet the department’s standard for an increased punishment as a repeat offender due to a lack of recent disciplinary action against him, but for his career, he has now been suspended five times for a total of 26 games.

On Sunday, McDavid himself took the opportunity to cause a rare stir with a call to re-evaluate the disciplinary process.

“If every time there is a suspension everybody complains about it, well, why don’t we take a look at the process and figure out if there’s a better way to make sure that both parties are happy? Because it seems like there’s a lot of frustration,” McDavid said.

That a player of McDavid’s stature went public with criticism of the Department of Player Safety necessitated a response from Parros, who has been criticized for years, but never so directly by one of the most important players with whom he is tasked with keeping safe.

“We sweat over these decisions and pour over these decisions every night all season long,” Parros said Tuesday. “We have a process in place that’s consistent.”