NHL senior vice-president and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell. (Darren Calabrese/Canadian Press) I'm sorry, so sorry. It's Brenda Lee tune for those old enough to remember. Or maybe not since I am old enough to forget. Anyway, the song title works for the purposes of this week's blog.
To Gary Bettman, to Colin Campbell, enough with the public relations BS. I appreciate Campbell's hard work and integrity over the years. Don't doubt for a minute that
he tries his best to steer clear of anything that would compromise his judicial responsibilities as the league disciplinarian. That said, he screwed up! And the commissioner screwed up by not saying he screwed up!
First point. Emails are public. Simple and clear. Once sent, they can be used as evidence in a court of law as is the case here. Never should have sent it.
Second point. Although it would be unrealistic to think that anybody would be devoid of opinion on players, a league executive can't be making generic statements about a player
to the director of officials. Opining about a single incident is one thing but generalizing is another.
It looks bad on the league and Campbell. And it looks worse than it should because the stench lingers.
The NHL and its chief of hockey operations made mistakes. Those mistakes have impacted Marc Savard. Call the guy and tell him it never should have happened. Apologize to the PA and the fans. Hockey people know Campbell's reputation and if it's as strong as the league statements of support would have you believe, then there is plenty of political capital to use to get by this.
And you owe your son an apology, Colin. You have put him in a very uncomfortable situation in the Boston clubhouse. Greg seems like the type of man who can handle the heat but just the same, he deserves the call. After all, his dad's comments were about a teammate.
And enough with the "we did nothing wrong, we are men of integrity" spiel. A simple admission of making a mistake will do. Please don't tell me that the emperor is wearing a beautiful robe today. We all know better.