George Parros Willing To Evolve NHL Player Safety’s Process If Needed

NHL player safety head George Parros said he's confident in his team but is open to change.

"There's no ego in this department," Parros told reporters. "We're always looking to improve if there's room for it."

Parros' media availability on Tuesday in Florida at the NHL's GM meetings comes four days after the NHL Department of Player Safety handed Anaheim Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas a five-game suspension for kneeing Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews on March 12.

The former NHL enforcer, who's currently the senior vice-president of the player safety department, defended the suspension and the department's process amid backlash to Gudas not being suspended for longer. Parros also addressed the possibility of changing how the player safety department handles these incidents.

"We feel very confident in this process we've been doing for a long time, but it doesn't mean that we're not willing to evolve if we need to," Parros said.

Gudas, 35, was suspended four times previously in his NHL career, but the last one came in 2019. The Department of Player Safety only considers a player a repeat offender for 18 months following the last incident that resulted in a suspension.

Matthews, meanwhile, will not return this season due to a Grade 3 MCL tear, the Maple Leafs announced last Friday.

Parros said the department assumed there was an injury on the play when deciding to offer Gudas a phone hearing instead of an in-person hearing, which would have made it possible to suspend him for more than five games.

"When we evaluate these plays, we look at the play, not the players," Parros said. "If we determine that play was worthy of supplemental discipline, we then look at the history of the players involved and if there was an injury or not. This is how we come to make all of our decisions. We made this decision under those circumstances, felt that this was the appropriate response, and so I stand by it."

Matthews' agent, Judd Moldaver, blasted the department's decisions on the Gudas suspension.

"A phone hearing and five games is laughable and preposterous," he said in a statement to reporters last Friday. "While the process is set in our CBA, that this was the discipline is reckless and ridiculous. This decision results in a further loss of confidence in the disciplinary process for all players. Players and fans deserve better. The Player Safety Department should be suspended."

Parros said he's not bothered by Moldaver's comments.

"Is anybody surprised that an agent's going to stand up for his player? I'm not. There's nasty stuff that gets said out there in the social media world, but it's not my concern."

Parros suggested he doesn't see a need for major changes to the player safety department's process, but he's not ruling it out.

"There's no trends right now or anything systematic in the game or systemic in the game that leads me to believe that we need to change something that's happening on the ice and we see on the ice that we're not dealing with," he said. "If that time comes, then we'll absolutely deal with that head-on and involve the parties that need to be involved."

He said the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and NHL Players' Association dictates the way his department looks at these plays.

"If you're talking about a major shift in the number of games in general or for a certain type of incident, that would be something that would be talked through with the union and then certainly, obviously relayed to the players, but it's not outside the realm of possibility," Parros said.

Parros has served as the senior VP of the NHL Department of Player Safety for the past eight seasons. In 2017, he replaced Stephane Quintal, who also fought often as an NHL player. At the time, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said Parros has one of the brightest and most innovative young minds in the sport.

"His selection to run this department not only will maintain the stability and consistency in decision-making that have been essential to the Department's success but also will enable it to continue evolving in step with our game," Bettman said in 2017.

Parros said the speed, skill and physicality in the NHL have changed quite dramatically over the past few years. But he also said that while there are a couple of incidents that will be lightning rods, the players have buy-in and generally accept and anticipate decisions regarding supplemental discipline.

"I trust our players to a great degree out there," he said. "This game is so fast, and things happen so quickly, and they play this game so responsibly under those circumstances, so I think it's actually impressive."

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.