Is Colin Campbell done?

I read this article over at Puck Daddy earlier this morning and I am really hoping this rumor is true. This move is a long time in coming and frankly I am tired of his inconsistencies, star players have one standard of justice and goons and hard nosed players have another standard. Now if we can only get rid of Gary Bettman.

The speculation among many NHL insiders is that Colin Campbell will be replaced at the end of the season – he will either announce his retirement or take another league job.

Given Campbell’s lamentable track record as the league’s chief law enforcement officer, it is a move that is long overdue.

The last straw, of course, was his refusal to suspend the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Matt Cooke for his attack on Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins.

But Campbell’s performance, not just recently, but over a period of years as the NHL’s senior vice-president of hockey operations, has been so inept as to be an embarrassment to the league and also the commissioner Gary Bettman.

More than anyone, Campbell is responsible for the increased incidents of head shots, because of his refusal to move to eliminate them years ago. The Savard-Cooke incident was just one of many that could have been stopped had substantial suspensions been handed out for blind-side attacks dating back at least three years.

According to insiders, Bettman wanted to suspend Cooke but deferred to Campbell who argued that a rule didn’t exist to justify sitting down Cooke, a repeat offender.

That argument, of course, was pure nonsense. There was no rule in the books covering the indefinite suspension to Sean Avery a year ago for describing former girlfriend and actress Elisha Cuthbert as “sloppy seconds,” but he got it and he sat for six games.

Insiders believe Bettman was intimidated by Campbell and his staff, because they happen to be veteran hockey guys, and Bettman is not.
[Truth or Rumors]