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OT: Player Safety Discussion

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towely said:
i think at this stage of the game with the size and speed of today's players and the rise in injuries that a full cage like in college and high school should mandatory.

every player has a cut, bruise or missing teeth on their face and it is the only part of their body that is not protected but yet gets injured often to all players.

you would think by now they would have changed that.

i also think it is time for some changes to the helmet. they need more padding like a nfl helmet and the chin strap needs to be kept snug so the helmet stays put and combine that with the full cage and it would eliminate a lot of needless injuries.

goalies use a cage and no one needs to see what is going on more then him and they do fine.
not using cages is more of a excuse and macho thing then anything else as well as the traditionalists don't like it and some rules would be effected like high sticking and as much as teams don't want to see anyone hurt they are not ready to lose the opportunity to get a power play or even a double minor if blood were drawn.
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Well said.

There's really no logical reason not to wear a full cage. It's all about the appearance of being macho. We can already see in some posts in this thread where it's all about the dinosaur way of playing the game.

As for fighting, if you ever watch the WHL, they have a tradition where, if you're going to fight, both players take off their helmets first (at least, until the last year or so). Most fights in the league now are just useless staged slapfests anyway. If there's anything that makes hockey look like the stupidest sport on the planet, it's two supposed tough guys at the faceoff jawing at each other and dropping the gloves for NO reason.

If someone throws a dirty hit against a teammate, that's when you go full Dexter on him. And if he turtles, just flip the idiot over on his back and pummel away. (That'll stop turtling in a hurry.)

As for the helmets....imagine if Sidney Crosby was actually wearing a good helmet strapped up properly the last few years. Chances are if he still would've been concussed, it would've been minor.

How many star players are we willing to lose long term when there's equipment available that would've prevented so many needless injuries? Yes, it's a collision sport and accidents can always occur, but there's no excuse for many of the injuries we've seen the past few years.
 
Hockey Team said:
That's why there's more players coming into the NHL wearing visors now.

There's always some players who don't like them, others who feel they shouldn't wear them because of their playing style, and some who have severe problems with a visor (like the ones who have to constantly wipe down the visor, I doubt any player is going to put up a visor fogging up on them).

This isn't a rec league. A foggy visor is much more dangerous to a player's career then the small risk of a visor-preventable injury.
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I'm going to assume you haven't worn a visor for quite a while. Most visors made today are tilted and vented so they don't fog much..and there's also plenty of sprays and coatings that virtually eliminate fogging in all but the most severe of conditions (like playing in the summer when it's 100F outside and high humidity).
 
Something I've noticed that is interesting...

Fedotenko and Mitchell both did not wear visors while on the Rangers last season. This year, they both were visors.

They're the only two former Rangers that I have confirmation on of going from visorless, to wearing a visor. Maybe there ar emore, these are just the only two that I have noticed.

Perhaps some organizations encourage it more than others?

I'm all about leaving it up to the players choice. I despise seeing players with visors run around and pick fights (see: Kaleta, Patrick; old Matt Cooke). I know there's a penalty in place for instigating a fight with a visor on, but it's rarely called.

If visors go mandatory, I'd like to see players have to remove their helmets before fighting, or otherwise be assessed an extra two minutes. This is tough though because a) it's there for safety; b) in the heat of the moment you might not be thinking about removing your helmet
 
i haven't seen double-minors for high-sticking mentioned yet. the 'extra 2m for blood' mentality is surely something that guys consider when choosing whether to wear a shield or not, and this is something that could be addressed if not mandating visors.

if i was a low-importance player like bickel or boyle and i had the option to wear a visor this would definitely discourage me from wearing a visor in terms of team benefits.

also: as far as 'insurance' policies go-- they only do so much. if a guy like staal goes down with a career-ending injury you lose more than just money. you lose a valuable roster player and any assets used to acquire them. somebody that you weighted a few years on
 
On the topic of player safety, this is exactly why checking from behind and boarding need to be met with heavy, heavy suspensions and fines:



This is from the playoffs in the Swiss B league. The player that was hit, Ronny Keller, is now a permanent paraplegic. Simply awful. Those hits are the most dangerous plays in hockey. It's why I wanted Kaleta suspended far more than five games.
 
nyr2k2 said:
On the topic of player safety, this is exactly why checking from behind and boarding need to be met with heavy, heavy suspensions and fines:



This is from the playoffs in the Swiss B league. The player that was hit, Ronny Keller, is now a permanent paraplegic. Simply awful. Those hits are the most dangerous plays in hockey. It's why I wanted Kaleta suspended far more than five games.
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absolutely cringeworthy. the faces in the audience say it all. that's a horrible hit. it doesn't look like something where the guy outright intends to injure him, but man if that's not a completely irresponsible move and that's where suspensions should be coming in.

i'm inclined to agree on kaleta. 5 games for a repeat offender is nothing. it's clearly not getting the message across-- feels like we have more of these hits this year than last. 5-10 games for a 1st time offender should be minimum now that we've had time to adjust to the rule. guys should be thinking about this every time they're on the ice. 10-20 for a repeat. a suspension that guys are going to be risking their jobs/lineup spots over.
 
That's awful man.

Remember when there were only like one of those hits every so often(though not as bad an outcome) in the Pro's? How many players in 1979 had speed of the ordinary NHL today? Now every player outside the super talents of the league has to play and be built like a wrecking machine.

The size, strength, speed of the players today are just on another level. Pucks, sticks, skates are also taking out more and more players than I've ever seen. This all has been a trend. I should know, been posting about it 13 years now.
 
Bluenote13 said:
That's awful man.

Remember when there were only like one of those hits every so often(though not as bad an outcome) in the Pro's? How many players in 1979 had speed of the ordinary NHL today? Now every player outside the super talents of the league has to play and be built like a wrecking machine.

The size, strength, speed of the players today are just on another level. Pucks, sticks, skates are also taking out more and more players than I've ever seen. This all has been a trend. I should know, been posting about it 13 years now.
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Yep. Now we get a couple per month. It's honestly shocking that we don't see more guys end up like this poor fella. The lack or respect guys are showing each other is appalling.
 
nyr2k2 said:
Yep. Now we get a couple per month. It's honestly shocking that we don't see more guys end up like this poor fella. The lack or respect guys are showing each other is appalling.
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Coaches tell these guys to play like that, for years.

Hit'em ! Blast'em ! Nail'em ! ****'em up !

It's that meathead mentality that football is now taking a look at cause of serious injury. Maybe, just maybe you should have some regard for your opponent. Do you have to plaster a guy at every turn?
 
Bluenote13 said:
Coaches tell these guys to play like that, for years.

Hit'em ! Blast'em ! Nail'em ! ****'em up !

It's that meathead mentality that football is now taking a look at cause of serious injury. Maybe, just maybe you should have some regard for your opponent. Do you have to plaster a guy at every turn?
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Good sportsmanship is for when you're playing for fun.

When there's so much at stake, and there's no more player policing like there used to be, there's going to be plenty of dirty play.

Torts even said this in a pre-game. If players know they're going to get retaliated on for dirty plays, then they won't make those types of plays to begin with. An eye for an eye mentality leaves everyone with perfect vision.
 
Good sportsmanship separates us from animals though I know that's very uncool around here :p:

You make it sound like there's so much 'at stake'. It's entertainment not real world. Real soldiers in war get nothing. This is just a game. No need to kill each other out there. It's a sport.
 
Bluenote13 said:
Good sportsmanship separates us from animals though I know that's very uncool around here :p:

You make it sound like there's so much 'at stake'. It's entertainment not real world. Real soldiers in war get nothing. This is just a game. No need to kill each other out there. It's a sport.
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There's tons at stake.

Each round in the playoffs is worth millions of dollars to the team. This causes teams to pressure coaches to win (and if they don't deliver their jobs are at stake). Coaches then pressure players to do what it takes to win. There's players who's jobs depend on them doing things like delivering big hits, and if they don't do so they're not going to get any playing time, which means being sent to the minors, or having difficulty getting another contract.

It's not "just a game" anymore.
 
Saw that this morning... hope the victim is okay and can walk again... That's the WORST that could happen because he may not be able to play the game again
 
According to Swiss Paraplegic Centre doctor Michael Baumberger, Keller sustained "permanent spinal paralysis" due to the damage to his fourth thoracic vertebra
 
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