DAVIS CLEANING UP NHL’S IMAGE CRISIS
It was two years ago when the NHL hired Kim Davis as its executive vice-president of social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs. At the time of her appointment, the Hockey News ran a story with the headline: “Kim Davis is the kind of leader the NHL needs in 2018.”
Today, the NHL needs Davis now even more than ever.
Over the past three weeks, the league and the entire hockey world has become embroiled in allegations of racism, as well as verbal, physical and emotional abuse by coaches toward players.
Some have suggested that it could be just the tip of the iceberg, and with the stories that keep coming up daily, it very well could be.
On Wednesday, the Colorado Avalanche placed Tony Deynzer, the head equipment manager of their AHL affiliate, on administrative leave after Akim Aliu — who weeks earlier sparked the NHL’S #metoo movement after tweeting out that he was the subject of racial epithets while playing for former Calgary Flames coach Bill Peters in the minors — told the Wall Street Journal that Deynzer dressed up as Aliu, complete with an Afro wig and blackface, for a team Halloween party while with the Colorado Eagles.
For Davis, it’s the kind of doomsday scenario that she was hired to tackle. For the NHL’S so-called “social justice warrior,” it’s the one that she has been preparing for.
“The last couple of weeks have actually been the last couple of months, because we have been spending time developing a three- to five-year strategic plan around culture and inclusion, long before the recent incidents,” Davis said at the board of governors’ meeting this week, where NHL commissioner Gary Bettman unveiled a multi-pointed “zero tolerance” approach to inappropriate conduct.
“In fact, this has just accelerated our timeline and our resolve. There’s often some kind of defining moment for an organization that causes that organization to both accelerate its efforts, and also to become a rallying call for that organization. So I see that as positive.”
That’s one way of looking at the damage that’s been done to hockey’s brand in the past few weeks. The sport has always prided itself on being all-for-one and one-for-all, where fourth-liners are just as important to success as the stars, and where egos are checked at the door for the good of the team.
Today, it has a serious image crisis.
The hockey dressing room is now a place where racism was allowed to run rampant, where coaches are allowed to punch, kick and choke players in the name of motivation. It’s no longer inclusive. It’s not even safe.
Maybe that’s why Davis is the perfect candidate to clean things up.
The Chicago native has no hockey background. Her previous jobs were in high finance. But that inexperience could work to her advantage in helping to destroy the “old boys’ club” that has allowed this toxic culture to continue for so many years.
Bettman deserves credit for threatening teams with “severe” discipline if they don’t act swiftly in notifying the league of any off-ice misconduct. But Davis will act as the commissioner’s so-called enforcer and mete out punishment.
Davis knows change won’t occur overnight. As much as she has been preparing for this moment, the firestorm of allegations came as a surprise to her and everyone within the league.
Davis doesn’t have a code of conduct for how coaches, general managers and other staff should act. She hasn’t yet formed “a multidisciplinary council to suggest initiatives, monitor progress and co-ordinate efforts with all levels of hockey.” As of Tuesday, she hadn’t even spoken to Aliu.
To use a hockey analogy, what Davis will do next is being done on the fly.
“The work that we’re doing today is going to set the tone for the way the sport looks 20 years from now,” she said, adding that the hope is to get everything running at some point this season, but likely won’t make an immediate difference right away.
“Culture change isn’t something that you’re going to see in six months, in nine months, maybe not even in two years.”
At least she has an idea of where the problems lie and how to tackle them. The first challenge is breaking the cycle of abuse levied from coaches to players.
“There’s a generational history of individuals who have sort of gone through a certain kind of treatment feeling like, ‘Well, I endured it, so the next generation has to endure it,’ she said. “Until you break that cycle, that continues. That has to do with changing times and changing attitudes, and a leader who puts a stake in the ground like Gary has.”
The second is eradicating racism and homophobia from the dressing room. According to Davis, they’re two different issues. “To collude the two does an injustice to both sides,” she said. “This is not a one-size-fits-all.”
The third area is potentially the most important: creating an environment where players are allowed to voice their concerns without fear of reprisal.
“Speaking truth to power is hard,” she said.
“Creating an environment where people — players and people within our sport — feel a level of trust such that they believe they can now step forward and speak the truth.”
When asked if the NHL has a problem with racism, Davis shot back: “I believe society has a racist problem.”
In other words, making the NHL 100 per cent inclusive will only come when the rest of the world is. Until then, Davis has her hands full.
“To categorize this as a hockey problem minimizes our ability to use this moment in our sport to understand that we are a microcosm of society,” she said.
“To say that the culture of hockey is racist is, I think, inappropriate and inaccurate.”