Ex-enforcer now in charge of player safety
Parros says the two jobs are more similar than they may seem.
Dave Caldwell NEW YORK — George Parros has an Ivy League degree in economics, but he made a living for nine years as an NHL enforcer, protecting his teammates by being willing to drop his gloves.
Parros, at 6 feet 5 inches and 220 pounds with a Fu Manchu mustache, was an intimidating player. He retired from the NHL in December 2014 after amassing 1,092 penalty minutes.
Now he has a corner office at NHL headquarters in Manhattan, where he is completing his first season as senior vice president for player safety.
While he might seem like an unusual choice for the position, Parros said the two jobs are more similar than they might seem.
“I kind of say, joking around I guess, but when I was playing, I was protecting 23 guys, and now, I’m protecting 800 guys,” Parros, 38, said. “I always did see it like that. Whatever you think of my career, I was definitely always concerned that no one was taking runs at my guys, and making sure there was a presence on the ice if they did.”
He has the final say on league suspensions and fines for unsportsmanlike, illegal and even reckless play. “We hope we maintain a safe environment for the players,” he said.
Parros, who scored 18 goals in 474 regular-season games and helped the Anaheim Ducks win the Stanley Cup in 2007, was never suspended as a player. He acknowledged that he was in the league more for his size than his skill. Sometimes, that meant engaging in fights — 169 of them.
Because of a heightened emphasis on speed and finesse, fighting has declined drastically, to 0.26 fights per game from 0.65 fights per game in 2008-09, when Parros participated in 23 regular-season fights with the Ducks. The player safety department was created in 2011.
“I think the game has been cleaned up quite considerably, but there are still dangers out there,” he said. “We’re trying to figure out what those are and how to deal with them.”
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said Parros was a very good fit for this role.
“I know that many people think that, because of the role he played during his NHL career, he must not ‘think the game,’ ” Daly said. “Just the opposite is true.”
Parros spends much of his time talking to team officials and players about ways to make the game safer. Although a player who tests the limits of the rules might not warrant a suspension or a fine, Parros often lets him know the league is watching.
“Some of the things we deal Former NHL enforcer who is now the league’s senior vice president for player safety
‘I kind of say, joking around I guess, but when I was playing, I was protecting 23 guys, and now, I’m protecting 800 guys.’
with now deal with the speed of that game. There are a lot more accidental collisions. There’s a lot more things that happen with less intention than when I played. There’s a lot more headhunting going on, head shots, perhaps more reckless behavior. Guys looking to hurt or injure, in some manner,” Parros said.
Each NHL game is monitored in real time by a staff member on two screens, often one with the home team’s television feed, the other with the visiting team’s feed. National network feeds are also used. “In today’s game,” Parros said, “you can see everything.”
If an incident merits closer examination, the monitors alert Parros and his advisers by phone, including details like the infraction, the player’s suspension and fine history, the opponent, and, perhaps most important, the player’s next game. Video of the incident is available.
Parros said it is vital to make a decision as quickly as possible so he can tell the team’s general manager if the committee is contemplating a suspension. He describes the process as “case law,” in that most infractions have precedents.
“I might have an inclination of what I want to do,” Parros said, “but I’ll wait to get all the thoughts in and parse through the thoughts and figure out if I want to proceed further.”
A player facing punishment always receives a hearing to tell his side of the story — by telephone, often the day after a game. When a decision is made, a detailed explanation, with video, is posted on the league’s website.
Parros, as a player, closed his career with the Florida Panthers and the Montreal Canadiens. In October 2013, he suffered a concussion and was hospitalized after he fell face-first to the ice during a fight in his first game with Montreal. He suffered another concussion in a fight two months later. Parros retired in 2014.
But he was not done with hockey. Parros says he is quite happy with his latest career opportunity.
“This is an interesting job,” he said. “I don’t call it a fun job, because it’s not fun to take guys off the ice and dock their pay and tell GMs and everybody else that they’re being held out. But it is an interesting job. I’m enjoying it.”