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Judge and jury

The NHL's supplementary discipline procedure rests almost entirely in the hands of one man, Campbell. While NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has input on significant incidents, Campbell determines whether players are suspended and the lengths of their bans.

A native of London, Ontario, who coached the New York Rangers for four seasons after an 11-year NHL career that saw him record 128 points and 1,292 penalty minutes, Campbell lives two hours away from Toronto on a tobacco farm in rural Tillsonburg.

Campbell, 55, known to all in the game as "Coley," has been in this position since leaving the Rangers in summer 1998.

During his tenure, he has handled some of the most difficult situations in recent memory -- Todd Bertuzzi's attack on Steve Moore, Marty McSorley's attack on Donald Brashear, and Chris Simon's two recent violent infractions.

On a typical night, Campbell will watch multiple games at home or in the league's Toronto "war room" with several league officials who provide the long-distance decisions on disputed goals under the supervision of Mike Murphy, a former NHL coach and Campbell's deputy.

"I was told early on in my career that they look at everything and I should just keep my mouth shut," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette said.

Any controversial incident is debated by Campbell, Murphy and the NHL's game-night hockey operations staff long before Campbell's phone rings with a call from an irate general manager.

But in the end, the decision falls to Campbell alone.

"You take each one on its own," Campbell said. "You look at it as right or wrong -- not about disciplining a team but disciplining a player."

Environmental factor?

Within the Carolina dressing room, some players take it for granted that where they play affects the suspensions assessed by the league, and that the league office's location in Toronto factors into the equation.

"Just from the vicinity of where you live plays into it, I assume," said Walker, who said he deserved his one-game suspension for head-butting Ottawa's Mike Fisher.

In Toronto, the Canadian media cover hockey the way the American media cover the NFL, and any incident involving a player from a Canadian team is 24-hour news. In the Southeast Division, hockey is merely one of many sports in places like the Triangle, Washington and Atlanta.

"That might have been true in the '80s when you had Leafs games on TV, and Montreal and the Rangers had more games on TV," Campbell said. "We have a guy monitor every game. Whether it's a Canadian team playing or a U.S. team or it's a CBC [Canadian Broadcasting Company] game doesn't matter."

Campbell has an additional reason to be aware of what goes on in the Southeast: His son Gregory has played for the Florida Panthers since the lockout. (No suspension involving the Panthers, or one of their opponents, has been issued since then.)

Still, players argue it's not the same as playing in Canada or the other large East Coast markets.

"In bigger markets, it's going to be a bigger issue. In smaller markets, it's easier for things to go unnoticed," Cole said. "That's the way it is. I'm sure it's that way in other sports and other businesses. That's life.

"There's nothing you can really do to change it. You can't dictate the size of the market you play in. I guess you want your division or your team to be shown the same amount of respect as other teams or other markets, but that's not always going to be the case."

Many Hurricanes fans (and some players) are still angry over the three-game suspension handed down after Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik broke Cole's neck with a hit from behind into the boards in March 2006, a hit not unlike the Voros hit on Staal.

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