Colin Campbell is a great guy - or, at least so says Bob McCown of The Fan 590. McCown says, "Campbell is honest, personable, hardworking and always available to sports media"
He said nothing about Campbell's being competent.
People tend to honour and preserve what they are. After all, it's taken them 50, 60 - maybe even 70! - years to figure out why they're hanging around here on planet earth, so right, wrong or indifferent, they're going protect their hard won identity.
So when Campbell, as NHL disciplinarian, is put on the spot to make a judgment, say, as in Matt Cooke's cowardly, blindside hit on Marc Savard, his instincts will probably say, "This SOB Cooke should get 30 games and $50k fine!" Then he'll think, "I don't want a grievance from the Player's Union though - nobody's ever been handed such a penalty. And there's no specific rule that you can't make a blindside hit - even though Cooke raced almost from his own blue line to nail Savard, one of the smallest players in the NHL. And I want to keep the sports ink-stained wretches and broadcasters on side, so I'd better be able to give them credible reasons. And I'm reporting to Daly who's a politician, and who will challenge anything I propose beyond a slap on the wrist, and I don't want to get a 'Satisfactory Minus' on my appraisal in case Bettman starts asking questions. I think I'll just go with the flow - just like the referees did the nite of the game and say I have no grounds for a suspension or fine."
So Cooke (and any goon with similar intentions) escapes scot-free to blindside again at will. As long as they don't hit them in the head with the end-to-end rush with which they impale their helpless victim on the boards and glass.
So much for one superstar-in-the-making. Like Steve Moore after the courage-challenged hit-from-behind by Bertuzzi, I suspect that Savard will never be back. Or if he is, he'll be a shadow of his former self.Let Campbell apply to join McCown on the Fan. See how the buddy concept works then. 
It says here that before the NHL becomes an even greater laughing stock, this Soup should be canned.
