Eric Lindros' Drastic Rule Change Would Make Hockey Safer, But Is It Too Extreme?

[doniceage]

The NFL's new helmet rule has caused confusion and frustration in the preseason.
Routine tackles in the past have been flagged, and players, media members and fans have voiced their concerns with what exactly will be a legal tackle come the regular season.
Enough with football. Could something like this come to hockey?
If Flyers legend Eric Lindros had his way, it would, and it would go a bit further too.
https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...491215281.html

[Thick McRunfast]

What about putting force fields around each player? That way they can still make contact, but they'd just bounce off each other.

[30ranfordfan]

Of course it's too extreme. That's the entire point of the suggestion.

Hockey is a fast paced game. It's hard hitting. Concussions are bad - but the reality is that you'll never be able to 100% eliminate them (even if you removed hitting). Everyone knows this.

The NHL should be striving to find ways to minimize the risk of concussions, but they do very little about it. Banning hits to the head should be a no-brainier, but I truly believe the NHL is afraid to do it, because they have many star players who are just as guilty of it as marginal players. Harsh penalties to enforce a "no head contact" rule would need to apply to everyone, and the NHL would rather risk Sidney Crosby being out for 6 months with a concussion, than they would risk suspending him for contacting another player's head.

But Lindros' notion that they take all hitting out: IMO, t's just to move the needle on the conversation. Instead of suggesting "let's get rid of hits to the head" and having the response be "you're trying to get rid of hitting! you'll ruin the game!" maybe changing the suggestion to "let's get rid of hitting" will be met with "how about we focus on the hits that are unnecessary & dangerous, and leave the good ones alone?"

[sparty07]

They can start by looking at ways concussions occur and try to see what they can do equipment-wise to prevent them. I know 1 kid who got too many concussions before finishing school and is done playing hockey. Only 1 helmet tested passes with 5*, 1 4*, 4 3* ratings, the rest are 2* or lower including many with 0*. This seems like a problem. https://www.beam.vt.edu/helmet/hocke...t-ratings.html

[30ranfordfan]

Equipment can only do so much.

NHL could require that its players only use helmets with a certain standard of rating..... and they might be able to make markings on the helmet obvious to see what kind it is (i.e. is it on the approved list of 6 different helmets?)

but it still requires the players to wear them correctly, and not defeat any of the safety features in it. I'm not sure you can actually trust them to do that.

They can start by looking at ways concussions occur and try to see what they can do equipment-wise to prevent them. I know 1 kid who got too many concussions before finishing school and is done playing hockey. Only 1 helmet tested passes with 5*, 1 4*, 4 3* ratings, the rest are 2* or lower including many with 0*. This seems like a problem. https://www.beam.vt.edu/helmet/hocke...t-ratings.html