There’s a current trend going on in the NHL. A trend that is not only irresponsible but also reckless and dangerous. Is it hitting from behind? No, that trend seems to have lost its steam. Is it knee on knee hitting? No, that trend also lost its steam, mostly because of the dangers for the aggressor as well as the victim.
The latest trend right now is high sticking to faces of NHL players.
Ladislav Nagy has gone down, Owen Nolan has gone down, Darcy Tucker has gone down, and these incidents are just the ones who have needed surgery. Countless others have had near misses that have resulted in nicks across the nose bone, cuts to the eyebrows, cheekbones sliced, lips bloodied and teeth loosened if not lost.
It would be easy to say that the implementation of visors on all helmets would decrease the injuries but it wouldn’t decrease the activity, just the injuries.
Right now players wield hockey sticks like Lord/King Aragon from ‘Lord of the Rings’.
The possible reasons for that are many:
- A lack of respect among the players for each other.
- The replacement of wooden sticks with a much lighter type of composite stick made of metal.
- Conditioning of players before they reach the NHL of wearing masks/visors which gave them a feeling of invincibility. That may have made them more irresponsible with sticks to the face but they had masks so no damage. But now in the NHL they have carried that same type of conditioning but it’s easier to hurt others.
- The macho code that implies you are less of a man if you wear a visor.
The real reason who knows?
But one thing I do know is that the NHL needs to step in and do something. Not just for the drop in quality of play which would happen with missing players. But also for the sake of the players. They are obviously not going to police themselves, so it’s time for the NHL to do it. It might wrinkle the NHL Players Association but NHL has to do the right thing. And the right thing to do is make visors mandatory for all players entering the NHL as of next year. So that in 5-10 years most of the league will be protected for their own good.
As much as I hate to admit this; Jeremy Roenick of the Philadelphia Flyers was right and said it best, ‘Wake up NHL!’