It isextremely rare when George Parros speaks publicly about his job in handing down suspensions but he spent some time with TSN's Gino Reda at the NHL GM meetings in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday.
This season, Parros handed out a five-game suspension to Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly, after the player cross-checked Ottawa forward Ridly Greig after he took a slap shot into an open net.
Parros has heard criticism of that and other calls since he became the NHL's lead disciplinarian.
"I take more beatings now than I ever did on the ice, I'll tell you that much," Parros joked.
Parros spent nine seasons in the NHL where he amassed 1092 penalty minutes. On Sept. 7, 2017, he was named the Senior Vice President of NHL Player Safety. He met with NHL GMs on Tuesday to catch up with GMs about where the game is at from a safety perspective. He also explained his process for how suspensions are handed out.
"It's tough and there's a lot of nuance involved in it," Parros said. "Our goal is consistency and we have a single process that we follow.
"We track these things all year long an we look at 1000 clips a year. When something happens on the ice we can recall from either memory or our database that we've collected along the way that allow us to look at similar plays and we try to act and react in a consistent manner."
Reda revealed that the Parros leads a department of 13 people that are dedicated to watching every clip of every game in both home and away feeds. When Rielly was suspended, the player appealed but was Gary Bettman, who heard the appeal process affirmed Parros' decision.
Earlier this season, Detroit Red Wings forward David Perron was suspended six games for his cross-check to the head of Ottawa's Artem Zub. Because of the six-game suspension, that player has the right to two appeal processes if necessary. The first one seen by Bettman saw the original suspension upheld. Perron has appealed that ruling which has yet to be seen by a neutral discipline arbitrator.
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