Many professional hockey players are educated beyond high school and overall, intelligent. I’m not sure why you feel a need to bash or why that’s a statement you needed to make.
My point was that the NHLPA (the players) is partially responsible for this being or not being a rule, as it’s CBA negotiated. Like in any walk in life, you will find a mix of risk takers, libertarians and risk averse.
As someone who has worked extensively with NHL players and have had countless face-to-face interactions with them, I will disagree.
Some may chase higher education over time, through remote learning programs or other course deliveries, and others may go the college route. Most are not what I would call "educated"; if you were to pit a group of NHLers versus a similar group of standard college-educated persons, I believe you would see a measurable difference in ability - and I'm also willing to pitch in the fact that some of them have had repeated brain injuries, but this berates the point.
I am not calling them
stupid. I am willing to say they don't typically receive enough education around
critical thinking especially in their formative years.
The NHLPA (and other athletic player's unions) is unique from other standard working unions whether it's a grocery, a trade, or administrative in that they are seeking collective bargaining strength against an employer but also have to compete against their own working personnel to gain continued employment and so I think the forefront of safety as a workplace concern does not carry nearly the same weight or understanding.
If I'm injured at work for whatever reason, the union will bend over backwards for me to make sure I have every reasonable opportunity to return to my former position, but that doesn't hold for hockey players.
When Player A injures Player B, Player C is ready to step up to the plate; only Player B feels wronged, and Players A & C don't think they'll ever be in Player B's position and Player B gets to retire early or ride buses for the rest of their playing career.