The physical nature of the National Hockey League is changing.
Head injuries are always a risk in a collision sport where strong, young men crash into each other at fearsome speeds. But last season so many players were knocked off the ice for long stretches after suffering concussions that the NHL felt compelled to address the issue in a new way.
Former star Brendan Shanahan, just two years removed from his own playing career, assumed a new position as the league’s vice president of player safety. From his office in Toronto, part of Shanahan’s job is to review video clips of controversial hits and determine if a punishment is warranted. He has not been shy about wielding that new power.
Nine NHL players were issued suspensions during the preseason. Eight of those players will miss a combined 26 regular-season games for their actions. Also, eight of those nine suspensions were for hits to the head, which the league appears determined to limit. In all, Shanahan issued $684,115.01 worth of fines to show players he is serious. He’s even begun the unprecedented step of issuing video explanations on the NHL’s official web site with clips demonstrating exactly what a player did wrong.
“Any shots to the head we’ve been warned,” said Capitals defenseman Mike Green, who took a shoulder to the jaw last Feb. 25 from New York Rangers forward Derek Stepan and suffered a concussion that knocked him out for the rest of the regular season. “Doesn’t matter the severity of it. It’ll be taken care of.”
Concussions were already a hot topic last January when Pittsburgh Penguins star center Sidney Crosby took a blow to the head after colliding with Caps forward David Steckel during the NHL’s annual Winter Classic on Jan. 2. Crosby was knocked woozy, but returned to the contest. Unfortunately, four days later he was checked by Tampa Bay Lighting defenseman Victor Hedman and suffered a second concussion that ended his season. And Crosby, who continued to suffer symptoms throughout the offseason, still isn’t fully healthy. He is skating with the team, but has yet to be cleared for contact by Pittsburgh’s medical staff and didn’t play in the season opener Thursday night in Vancouver. So far, there is no timetable for his return.
Crosby’s head injury wasn’t the only one pushing the sport in a new direction. During the Stanley Cup finals last June, Boston Bruins forward Nathan Horton took a shot to the head from the blind side by Vancouver Canucks’ defenseman Aaron Rome. The image of Horton knocked senseless on his back with his right arm curled awkwardly in the air was difficult to stomach. That it happened on the sport’s biggest stage demonstrated once more that something had to change.
“I realize this is a red meat game. It’s a collision sport and that’s why we like it,” said NHL broadcaster Mike “Doc” Emrick, who is the lead play-by-play announcer for NBC and VERSUS. “And I realize the center of the ice has been opened up by the rule changes. Guys are bigger, stronger, faster. They build up more momentum. And a lot of these are accidental collisions. But the ones that are with malice and forethought, those are the ones that they’re trying to [eliminate].”
Last preseason only two NHL players were suspended by Colin Campbell, the league’s director of hockey operations. He was in charge of player discipline for 13 years before relinquishing those duties to Shanahan on June 1. Campbell remains in charge of the hockey operations division while Shanahan heads a new department devoted to improving player safety, especially reducing the number of concussions. But not everyone likes the changes.
“If this is the way they’re going to call it, it is going to turn into touch football,” said Mike Milbury, a former NHL player, coach and general manager who is now an NBC/VERSUS analyst.
Milbury is far from the only one with those concerns. The rate of suspensions and fines handed out by Shanahan has some players wondering where to draw the line. A hit that in the past would automatically be delivered, according to one current NHL player, now requires a moment of deliberation. At the speed the game is played that isn’t always possible.
But in his explanation videos Shanahan has emphasized that the movement of the player being hit will be taken into consideration, too. If someone turns at the last second and is then struck in the head, the hitter won’t necessarily be suspended or fined. That was made clear last weekend when Tampa Bay forward Ryan Malone was not suspended for his head shot on Montreal defenseman Chris Campoli during a preseason game. Shanahan ruled that Campoli had changed the angle of his head reaching for a puck and it was too late for Malone to stop.
“You don’t intentionally do it at times. That’s what’s going to [stink] about it as a player that’s being suspended or taken action on,” Green said. “But they have to protect us…If they’re consistent and if they’re being fair then it’ll work. Otherwise, if there’s this gray zone nobody’s going to know what to do and it’s still going to keep happening.”
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