TODD: The NHL appears to be as incompetent as it is insensitive

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It has been a brutal autumn for the National Hockey League. On issue after issue, the league has been tried and found wanting.

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A sense of urgency on the neck-guard issue in the wake of the death of Adam Johnson in England? Utterly lacking.

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The long-promised report on the alleged sexual assault in London, Ont., more than five years ago? Still missing.

The Pride Tape fiasco? When Brad Marchand has more social awareness than the league’s executives, it’s time for someone to take a long look in the mirror.

The 41-game suspension for Shane Pinto when he’s forced to wear a Bet99 logo on his helmet? Still the height of hypocrisy.

Failing to disclose to new Senators owner Michael Andlauer the league investigations into both the botched Evgenii Dadonov no-trade clause and Pinto’s sports betting.

Playing NHL hockey at Bettman’s Folly, the 5,000-seat arena in the desert where the Coyotes can’t even fill the building with the Canadiens in town.

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Managing things so that the stiff penalty the Chicago Blackhawks received for covering up a sexual assault and recommending the predator for another job was … Connor Bedard.

From concussions to neck guards to sexual assaults, from bungled franchise sales to the massive hypocrisy over the headlong plunge into gambling, the league has appeared as incompetent as it is insensitive — tone deaf, hidebound, backward and bumbling.

Commissioner Gary Bettman has always been a lightning rod for criticism. It goes with the job. But this is different: it almost seems that the 71-year-old Bettman has lost his fastball, that the league he has controlled with an iron fist for so long is spinning out of control.

“The commissioner …” said deputy Billy Daly after Johnson’s death, “was in touch with (NHLPA director) Marty Walsh to kind of put this squarely on the radar screen.”

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Does that mean “squarely” as in the way the NHL jumped on the Senators with both feet? Or more like that missing report on the alleged sexual assault in Ontario?

From what we’ve seen from the NHL this fall, we’re betting on the latter. And hoping that bet doesn’t land us with a 41-game suspension.

It’s looking Grey: As football games go, this one had all the elegance of a block of concrete falling on your head.

The hits were bone-shattering. The gains were nibbles. And at one of the most picturesque settings in the game, the photos most likely to be taken were X-rays.

But it goes into the record books as a 27-12 Alouettes victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, propelling the Als into the East final next week, where they are widely expected to be mauled by the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts.

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The betting segments say the Alouettes have no chance — but in the CFL, playoff upsets are as common as penalty flags. If the Als have a chance, it will come from Noel Thorpe’s smash-mouth defence. Trouble is, the Argos beat you down — even the wide receivers are built like fullbacks.

Whatever the outcome, credit where credit is due to GM Danny Maciocia. Given the near impossible hand he was dealt as the Alouettes were left in limbo while free agents drifted elsewhere, Maciocia did a superb job.

With only one year left on Maciocia’s contract, you wonder if Pierre-Karl Péladeau would have remained the very model of a calm, patient owner had the Als lost to Hamilton. Making it as far as the East final, however, should earn Maciocia an extension.

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Slaf this: There wasn’t much to cheer about from the Canadiens’ brief stopover in St. Louis on the way home from the desert. The Habs were thrashed, Samuel Montembeault was not very good, the power play was still getting lost in that maddening back-pass bedlam.

But Juraj Slafkovsky scored. Good that the man cursed with the No. 1-pick designation finally potted one — but what mattered was the way he scored it.

The big Slovak was in close with little room to manoeuvre and it took some very deft stickhandling to steer that puck into the net. It was the kind of play Josh Anderson consistently bungles, a goal-scorer’s goal.

I don’t know that it matters whether Slafkovsky has a stint in Laval. He has size, a great attitude and bundles of talent. He’ll make it. All he needs, for the umpteenth time, is confidence and patience.

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&&&& this just in from the Fennis Dembo Hall of Name: Thanks to Jeff Blond and my sidekick Zeke Herbowsky for this one, which might bring about a name change for the Hall of Name: Qwan’tez Stiggers, defensive back, Toronto Argonauts.

Heroes: Danny Maciocia, Noel Thorpe, Shawn Lemon, Reggie Stubblefield, Marc-Antoine Dequoy, Austin Mack, Tyson Philpot, William Stanback, Juraj Slafkovsky, Brendan Gallagher, Mike Matheson, Sean Monahan, Martin St. Louis, Tomas Plekanec, &&&& last but not least, that great physician and Red Fisher’s great friend, Dr. David Mulder.

Zeros: Chris Pronger, Wayne Gretzky, Auston Matthews, Ryan Reaves, Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, Luis Rubiales, Jim Harbaugh, Dabo Swinney, Mike Babcock, penalty shots that you time with a calendar, Claude Brochu, David Samson &&&& last but not least, Jeffrey Loria.

Now and forever.

jacktodd46@yahoo.com

twitter.com/jacktodd46

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