2010 email from Shero to league about Kris Letang hit

The Globe and Mail has a searchable database of emails involving NHL executives, which has been released to the public as a part of the ongoing concussion lawsuits. Which is a whole different can of worms, but one exchange stood out to me after Wysh tweeted it.

Then Penguins general manager Ray Shero emails the league the morning after this hit where Kris Letang nails Blake Comeau (then of the Islanders)

Letang would get tossed from the game for an "illegal check to the head", despite the fact that replays show this lateral type of hit was shoulder-to-shoulder contact. Still, in the heat of the moment- and with Comeau clearly injured- it's tough to fault the refs who only got one crack at making the call.

So you could see why the Pens GM would be curious as to what the league's take was.

Gotta give it to Shero, his request is concise, clear, professional and doesn't come in with a hot take. Nice job Ray. Also, things like this are why Shero is held in high regard in terms of his reputation around the league.

Colin Campbell (then the czar of player discipline), well, his response had a different tone.

Well then! Ultimately, Campbell was right- the hit was no head contact just shoulders, but the tone of emails like these could be giving the NHL some problems in future concussion issues.

We'll keep searching the email database to see if any other interesting topics are in there, but this email exchange was a nice little behind the scenes peak at how the team and league operates on issues like there.