Reaction to last helmetless players

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Just watchin game 7 of the ‘94 finals and I see McTavish without a helmet, and the though struck me- how did people feel about that at the time? Was it similar to visors, kinda a slow shift over 20 years or so? Because obviously we know so much more about concussions now, but the dude retired after 96-97- that’s still pretty friggin crazy, to play that late without a bucket. Soo just kinda wondering what the general attitude used to be and if you can recall your own feelings. Obviously it looks sick, but I also don’t think I could play worth a damn without that bit of reassurance. Crazy to me that he could.

 

[The Panther]

When I started watching NHL regularly around 1986-87, there were maybe a handful of players (incl. MacTavish) who didn't wear helmets, but it was quite rare. So, I never really saw helmetless as 'normal'.

I do recall MacTavish's last few seasons when broadcasters often made a big deal out of it. They'd always say, "the last helmetless player in the NHL"..., etc.

I sometimes wonder if MacTavish's hiring of Dallas Eakins might have resulted from some head trauma he suffered as a player.

 

[FerrisRox]

When I started watching NHL regularly around 1986-87, there were maybe a handful of players (incl. MacTavish) who didn't wear helmets, but it was quite rare. So, I never really saw helmetless as 'normal'.

I do recall MacTavish's last few seasons when broadcasters often made a big deal out of it. They'd always say, "the last helmetless player in the NHL"..., etc.

I sometimes wonder if MacTavish's hiring of Dallas Eakins might have resulted from some head trauma he suffered as a player.

There was a handful of guys that made it into the 1990's without a helmet.

Ron Duguay almost did. The first year Gretzky was in LA, Duguay was on that team with no helmet but Barry Beck, who had been helmet less in New York made a comeback in LA and wore a lid.

Al Secord got to 1990 with no helmet. Guy Lafleur, Rod Langway, Doug Wilson, Harold Snepsts, Randy Carlyle and Brad Marsh were all playing into the 90's with a helmet.

Interesting thing about MacTavish is he actually started his career wearing a helmet. His entire time in Boston, he wore a helmet. It wasn't until he made his comeback and joined the Oilers that he took it off.

 

[JMCx4]

This is a well written historical review of helmet use in the NHL: A short, heads-up history of the Hockey helmet. The one comment that rings true for me was that the skaters became more difficult to recognize at a glance on the ice.

 

[The Panther]

Ron Duguay almost did. The first year Gretzky was in LA, Duguay was on that team with no helmet but Barry Beck, who had been helmet less in New York made a comeback in LA and wore a lid.

Yep. The first NHL game I ever attended was L.A. @ Calgary, March 23rd 1989, and Duguay was there... helmetless. So, actually, I saw him get the very last point of his career!

 

[FerrisRox]

Yep. The first NHL game I ever attended was L.A. @ Calgary, March 23rd 1989, and Duguay was there... helmetless. So, actually, I saw him get the very last point of his career!

Of his NHL career. He played pro hockey for many years after he left the NHL.

His career is a weird one. This is a guy who scored 40-goals with the Rangers and notched 38 and 33 goal seasons with the Red Wings, but man, he just fell off a cliff in the middle of his career.

He scored 38 goals as a 28 year old in Detroit then gets traded to Pittsburgh midway through the next season. You think the Penguins adding a winger who could score like that would be a great move with Mario Lemieux having a 141 point season that year, and Duguay was a point-a-game in the 13 matches he played for the Pens. But the next year he only had five goals in 40-games before they sent him back to the Rangers. He couldn't score at all back on Broadway and got flipped to LA where he continued to struggle before leaving the league.

Hard to believe a 40-goal winger played with Mario and Wayne and couldn't find the back of the net to save his life.

 

[The Panther]

Of his NHL career. He played pro hockey for many years after he left the NHL.

His career is a weird one. This is a guy who scored 40-goals with the Rangers and notched 38 and 33 goal seasons with the Red Wings, but man, he just fell off a cliff in the middle of his career.

He scored 38 goals as a 28 year old in Detroit then gets traded to Pittsburgh midway through the next season. You think the Penguins adding a winger who could score like that would be a great move with Mario Lemieux having a 141 point season that year, and Duguay was a point-a-game in the 13 matches he played for the Pens. But the next year he only had five goals in 40-games before they sent him back to the Rangers. He couldn't score at all back on Broadway and got flipped to LA where he continued to struggle before leaving the league.

Hard to believe a 40-goal winger played with Mario and Wayne and couldn't find the back of the net to save his life.

Duguay strikes me as the prototypical mid-/late-1950s' born player for whom the mid-1980s onward rendered him a dinosaur. (There were a lot of guys like that.) The game just became too fast for him. He didn't make it easy on himself by seeming to spend more time on his hair than his conditioning, either.

 

[Hatfield]

I’ve read/heard somewhat recent comments by Langway (last 5-6 years) where he basically said he’d still go helmetless today if he were allowed. Those guys were a different breed.

 

[BenchBrawl]

I so wish we could see helmetlessness back. I know it's impossible due to security concerns, but it looked so much better for the spectator.

 

[HHHH]

If I remember correctly, Harold Snepsts was discussing about playing without a helmet, and when asked whether he was worried about brain damage, he said something to the effect of if it happened he could always come back as a forward.

 

[Crosstraffic]

I remember seeing Duguay in the WCHL with the San Diego Gulls in 1995-96, scored 17 points (8g, 9a) in 12 games, can't remember if he was wearing a lid or not by that point.

 

[FerrisRox]

I remember seeing Duguay in the WCHL with the San Diego Gulls in 1995-96, scored 17 points (8g, 9a) in 12 games, can't remember if he was wearing a lid or not by that point.

I don't know about his time in the WCHL, but he was helmetless with the Gulls when they were in the IHL.

 

[VanIslander]

Eddie Shore had his ear severed off when he went to make a big board-crashing hit in a preseason practice! (Habs captain Coutu had just joined the Bruins and Eddie wanted to show who's tougher. He kinda did as he picked up his ear - Coutu's stick had cut it clean off in the collision - and he found a doctor to sew it back on even though advised it wouldn't work, but it did).

 

[Sergei Bure]

I think Guy Laffleur when he comeback to play for the Rangers and Nordiques, was the last guy to play without a helmet...

 

[Iapyi]

Duguay strikes me as the prototypical mid-/late-1950s' born player for whom the mid-1980s onward rendered him a dinosaur. (There were a lot of guys like that.) The game just became too fast for him. He didn't make it easy on himself by seeming to spend more time on his hair than his conditioning, either.

I would think that part of the time spent on his hair was conditioning, maybe he used Pert?

 

[Buffalowing1988]

Yep. The first NHL game I ever attended was L.A. @ Calgary, March 23rd 1989, and Duguay was there... helmetless. So, actually, I saw him get the very last point of his career!

You got to go to early Saddledome games? I'm so envious. To make this somewhat helmet-related, I remember hearing that it was a challenge to get Perreault to wear a helmet initially. That comes from the same equipment manager the team had for generations.


But the Saddledome in that era, I can only wish I was there for it. Best fans in hockey atm. I don't know if you're a Flames fan but I recent found family in the area and have been planning a trip whenever this Covid ends.

 

[The Panther]

I think Guy Laffleur when he comeback to play for the Rangers and Nordiques, was the last guy to play without a helmet...

1996-97:

 

[Kshahdoo]

When I was a kid, I always thought, Canadians (I mean, NHLers) were idiots, because they played without helmets. Nowadays I'm almost an old man, but I still kinda think the same.

 

[sr edler]

Just watchin game 7 of the ‘94 finals and I see McTavish without a helmet, and the though struck me- how did people feel about that at the time? Was it similar to visors, kinda a slow shift over 20 years or so? Because obviously we know so much more about concussions now, but the dude retired after 96-97- that’s still pretty friggin crazy, to play that late without a bucket. Soo just kinda wondering what the general attitude used to be and if you can recall your own feelings. Obviously it looks sick, but I also don’t think I could play worth a damn without that bit of reassurance. Crazy to me that he could.

In pro cycling it took even longer to bring mandatory helmet use, which is a bit crazy since the high risk outcome is even worse in that sport (i.e. death). You don't have the day-to-day concussion risk from reoccurring hits and crash-and-bang plays and dumb-ish bare knuckle fighting, but if you fall on your head at high speed from a bike it's pretty much good-bye. Andrei Kivilev dying during the 2003 Paris–Nice changed that.

 

[sr edler]

I so wish we could see helmetlessness back. I know it's impossible due to security concerns, but it looked so much better for the spectator.

Craig MacTavish looked like something straight out of a late 80s early 90s soap opera, with that hair. He would have been perfect for a supporting role in Dallas or in Days of Our Lives as the love interest of some romantically repressed housewife.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

In pro cycling it took even longer to bring mandatory helmet use, which is a bit crazy since the high risk outcome is even worse in that sport (i.e. death). You don't have the day-to-day concussion risk from reoccurring hits and crash-and-bang plays and dumb-ish bare knuckle fighting, but if you fall on your head at high speed from a bike it's pretty much good-bye. Andrei Kivilev dying during the 2003 Paris–Nice changed that.

Ya that is rather crazy- aren’t helmets likely more aerodynamic anyways? Sucks that it took a death to make it happen.

 

[tarheelhockey]

At the time, I saw MacTavish as an interesting novelty. You really noticed him on the ice, but it wasn't THAT big of a deal. Players lost their helmets a lot more often back then, so it wasn't anything super-unusual to see a guy skating around helmetless. He was just a throwback, like if we had a guy still using wooden sticks.

In retrospect? Oh... my... god. The man is seriously lucky that he wasn't killed. By the mid-90s you had Eric Lindros, John Leclair, Chris Gratton sized players running around out there, not to mention the Scott Stevenses and Rob Blakes and Darius Kasparaitises who made a career of blowing up the big guys. Knowing what we know now, he should never have been out there in that environment without a helmet. It was less like carrying a wooden stick and more like playing goal without a mask. Rank stupidity and recklessness by all involved... damn lucky he never got caught in traffic and splattered all over the ice.

 

[MadLuke]

That sound accurate, it did became very noticeable and I remember always checking if players played him differently, I would imagine by then human nature make 2 helmet players take more risk and play more freely against each other than again a old veteran helmetless player, specially once it became unique, maybe Stevens do not throw is head hunting hit on him.

 

[tarheelhockey]

That sound accurate, it did became very noticeable and I remember always checking if players played him differently, I would imagine by then human nature make 2 helmet players take more risk and play more freely against each other than again a old veteran helmetless player, specially once it became unique, maybe Stevens do not throw is head hunting hit on him.

I have to think they took it a little easier on him. The way the game was already being played in 1994, it would be sheer luck to get through a season without an incident if everyone was playing him hard.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i started collecting hockey cards seriously, so more than just getting the odd pack now and then, in the 1990-'91 season. so that was when i started having a comprehensive understanding of the league. at that time i think the last helmetless guys, or at least the ones who played enough that they were still getting cards made, were carlyle, wilson, langway, harry snepsts, brad marsh, lafleur, al secord, and mact. i might be forgetting one or two guys but it was a small list.

it always seemed weird to me how much younger mact was than everyone else. looking at it now, he actually is roughly the same age as wilson, carlyle, langway, marsh, and secord (he and secord started their careers as teammates in boston and had their rookie years in back to back years), but mact felt like a different generation because he lasted so much longer.

lafleur, snepsts, and secord retired that season.

the norris trio of carlyle, wilson, and langway all retired, as no longer everyday players, in 1992-'93. marsh retired that season too, and he was the only one who still played a regular shift—on the expansion senators that were the worst team of all time. marsh was in the all-star game. i'm pretty sure marsh was the last helmetless player in the ASG, not counting publicity stunts (ahem, jeremy frivolous lawsuit roenick).

but mactavish lasted all the way to 1997. he played 52 playoff games, won seven series, and a cup between when langway/wilson/carlyle/marsh hung them up and when he retired. and the whole time we were all like, who is this idiot?