Culture
First
off the culture of today’s players still seems to be careless even after all
the head related injuries suffered to this point in the season. So from a Board
of Governors and general managers perspective players need to become more
respectful of their fellow competitors whether that is through team discussions
or personal responsibility and accountability.
Equipment
The
league is constantly working with manufactures and designers to create softer
shoulder pads and elbow pads to reduce the shock or head trauma when a hit is
delivered.
Treatment
I
believe the NHL needs to begin working closely with a team of doctors who
specifically focus on repeated head trauma injuries to find ways to help
prevent concussions from reoccurring. Secondly, with this support procedures
and methods for evaluating and helping players recover can be adopted to get
these players health and game ready.
This
could have also played a factor in the pre-mature return of Sidney Crosby who
was recently diagnosed with a soft tissue neck injury; which I will discussion
in my next post!
Game Changes
Don
Cherry talked last night about the repeated impact of concussions and players
being left in vulnerable positions because of stretch passes (blue line to blue
line) and he stated that the NHL needs to re-evaluate the idea of placing the
redline back in the game for player safety and to help slow down the speed of
the game.
Last
Night
Lastly,
Ales Hemsky of the Edmonton Oilers got rocked by Nick Kronwall of the Detroit
Red Wings last night with what seemed to be a high elbow. More than likely a
suspension will follow and it will be interesting to see if Hemsky who didn’t
return to the game is diagnosed with a concussion or concussion like symptoms.
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