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This story caught my eye last week and not because I'm a huge NHL fan. Last week, after a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Brandon Shanahan of the New York Rangers had a couple of things to say about the officiating:

"I don't know what the deal is," an angry Shanahan said. "Guys hit [Jagr] late, guys hit him high, guys hook his hands. He doesn't complain. He just goes out and plays and plays and plays. The referees just seem to have a different set of rules about the way people get to play against him."

Having read more than my share of stories about athletes who dared criticize officials, I obviously expected a strong rebuke from the NHL and a fine. What I saw instead was a surprise:

"I think criticism is a great form of adjustment for us," Mike Murphy, the NHL's senior vice president of hockey operations told The Associated Press in a phone interview from the league's "war room" in Toronto. "The more honest criticism directed at us helps us watch our department close to make sure we do things right.

"Criticism isn't something we run from."

and so was this:

"We don't muzzle our players," NHL vice president Colin Campbell told TSN of Canada on Thursday. "We're not happy that Brendan Shanahan chose to be critical of our officials but he is, within limits, free to say what he wants.

"Brendan is a veteran player and has been in our league a long time. If he feels this criticism will help him or his teammates or his team, that it might give them an edge or that it just needed to be said, that's up to him. But I can say that our referees aren't going to change the way they call the game because of criticism from anyone. Our referees have a great deal of integrity and they call the game as they see it," Campbell said.

This is interesting because it is so refreshing. For some reason, I got used to this:

Shaq fined $15,000 for criticizing NBA officials

and this:

The Chicago Bulls fined forward Tyrus Thomas $10,000 on Tuesday, one day after the rookie said he only was interested in the money for the NBA's slam dunk contest.

These are only two examples of the many that I could have pulled from the last year in the NBA. Now, I'm don't mean to imply that the NBA has to allow players freedom of speech as a constitutional right, (thanks law school ... now would somebody please tell ESPN analysts), but part of the principle behind the first amendment applies equally everywhere. At its most basic and simplistic, allowing people to express opinions contrary to your own demonstrates respect.

What interests me is the two different approaches that two very different leagues take to treating their employees. The NHL, a league run by white men and played predominantly by white men, allows its players to openly criticize the league and its officials. The NBA, a league run by white men and predominately played by black men, muzzles its players and openly treats their words and opinions with contempt.

Draw your own conclusions.