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NHL must do more to assert itself as the ultimate protector of players |
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It’s been an eventful week for the NHL in a lot of regards. We’ve seen buzz over participation in the next Olympic Games; speculation about negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement; and off-ice bumps in the road for the Las Vegas expansion team, among other news items. The news isn’t always news league officials want to be the focus of fan discussion, but there’s never a lack of debate material for hockey fans.
And there’s one issue that always seems to be front and center, in one shape or form, regardless of the time of year or the teams involved. It might manifest in different ways, but that issue – who’s responsible for keeping NHLers safe – comes to the fore almost every night a game is played. And until the league takes a more hands-on approach to establishing itself as, for better and for worse, the ultimate protector of players, there are going to be brushfires that erupt in every corner of its product.
On Thursday night, we saw that in Montreal, where star goalie Carey Price snapped and pummelled Devils winger Kyle Palmieri after the latter collided with him in his crease. We also saw it in Dallas, where Preds netminder Pekka Rinne went after Stars winger Adam Cracknell when the latter skated near him following a stop he’d made. In both cases, the goaltenders were likely lashing out due to weeks, if not months of feeling like they’re professional bowling pins – and that the opposition is, willingly and with malice, attempting to run them all the way to the Injured Reserve.
And goalie frustrations aren’t the only indication of a league that hasn’t been sufficiently forceful in ensuring its athletes understand they aren’t and can’t be responsible for revenging or protecting themselves on the ice. On Sunday, Oilers superstar Connor McDavid was removed from the game – as per the NHL’s improved concussion protocol – after hitting his head on the ice against Minnesota. And on Tuesday, Canucks blueliner Philip Larsen was knocked unconscious by a hit from New Jersey’s Taylor Hall – and in the immediate aftermath, a melee ensued that saw numerous players knock the motionless Larsen around, further endangering him.
In both those cases, there was a clash of cultures that scream out for tougher and clearer action from league brass. McDavid was none too pleased to have been taken out of competition by an independent concussion spotter, indicating that, if it were up to him, he’d have continued on and returned to the ice that night. And the scrum that broke out after Hall’s hit – about as clean a hit as you’ll see in the modern-day NHL – showed that the deep-seated desire to fight, even after clean hits, is still something most players have been groomed to believe is the natural course of events.
This is where a stronger pushback from the NHL needs to come in. Just as the league has to inform Price and Rinne they’re not entitled to take out a member of the opposition for a perceived wrong against their person, so too does it need to reinforce to McDavid and all players that the concussion policy is in place to keep them playing as long as possible – if not in any one game, then certainly in the bigger picture. And so too does it need to punish players for automatically losing their minds after any major bodycheck.
It’s true hockey is a chaos and collision-based sport, and nobody should pretend a harder line from league disciplinarians will lead to a completely safe workplace for NHLers. That said, the culture has evolved to where it is today precisely because team owners haven’t done enough to assert themselves as the ultimate arbiters of right and wrong. This is why, in some senses, it’s difficult to blame players for taking matters into their own hands.
To wit: if you knew from past example that the person who took liberties with your well-being was going to face a negligible fine that wouldn’t dissuade them from doing the same thing again, vigilante justice would make a lot of sense. Similarly, when hockey culture rewards and deifies players who sacrifice their own bodies for the good of the team, it’s understandable McDavid would want to forego someone else’s opinion about his safety and get right back into the thick of things.
But we’ve seen where all those roads lead: to a place where revenge culture conjures up Todd Bertuzzi/Steve Moore black marks on the sport; to a place where Sidney Crosby gets back in the lineup far too soon after a concussion and winds up having his career jeopardized; and to a place where no hit can be carried out without the perception it must be “answered for” with a fight.
Ultimately, it all solved nothing. But it's safe to say harsher penalties, fines and suspensions for reckless players will do some solving. And better education for players as it pertains to the horrendous effects of head injuries will lead to a better understanding of the need for caution. And that much was on display, too, this week.
Indeed, Hall’s hit could’ve been much worse – twenty years ago, a blindside hit on Larsen would’ve been applauded by fans and players alike, and the fact Hall pulled up and exercised some degree of concern for his opponent should be lauded. And though McDavid was frustrated by being removed from the game, Sharks winger Joel Ward spoke out smartly afterward, noting that – despite having the same fate befall him in an Oct. 29 contest against Nashville – he understood and was thankful for the concussion protocols, as he recognized they’re in place to look after him and prolong his career.
For years, I railed against the old-school culture wherein NHLers devalued themselves as human beings and confused empty, often-dangerous machismo with genuinely admirable action. But things have started to change for the better, and the owners/GMs and NHL Players’ Association deserve kudos for the steps they’ve taken to create a more progressive league.
Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a long ways to go in that department. There absolutely is. And all the evidence you need comes at you on your TV, laptop computer and phone every night games are played.
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