The NHL could be closer to adopting new rules that improve player safety and create more offense. There has been an outcry from fans, reporters and analysts for the league to take steps toward make contests more entertaining while prioritizing the well-being of players.
League general managers announced Tuesday that a new rule has been drafted that would force skaters to immediately head to the bench should they lose their helmets during play and would penalize players who don't immediately leave the ice.
No one wants to see a helmetless player continue his shift and receive a puck, elbow or blow to the head and suffer a serious injury that could have been prevented. A helmetless skater would be assessed a two-minute penalty should he fail to leave the ice.
The proposed rule will need to be approved by the NHL/NHLPA competition committee before needing a final approval by the Board of Governors.
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That's not all. League general managers are in favor of a rule that would force players to wear helmets during pregame warmups. Though this would not be part of the proposed rule change, it would require approval from the NHL Players' Association.
Both of these measures are common-sense proposals that could help reduce serious head injuries. Former four-time Stanley Cup winner Craig MacTavish was the final player in NHL history to not wear a helmet during games. It probably looks odd to a younger generation of hockey fans when they watch highlights of the Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup championship season and see MacTavish whirling around without a helmet.
MacTavish was acquired by the Blueshirts from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Todd Marchant in late March 1994. Months later, the veteran center won the final faceoff of the 1994 Stanley Cup Final with 1.6 seconds remaining, as Madison Square Garden erupted into euphoria as a 54-year Stanley Cup drought was ended. He retired following the 1996-97 season.
Soon, helmetless players during warmups could be a thing of the past. The IIHF requires players to wear helmets at all times during international competitions, including warmups. Similar to the NHL making visors mandatory before the 2013-14 season, it's a safety measure that should have been implemented long ago.
Helmetless players have been on the receiving end of nasty ricochets off the crossbar during warmups that have caused scars and required stitches. Who could forget the nasty injury that current Devils wing Taylor Hall sustained during warmups while he was a member of the Oilers in 2012? Hall received a 30-inch cut and a swollen black eye after colliding with teammate Ladislav Smid and barreling into teammate Corey Potter's skate. Potter tried to leap over his teammates and his skate caused a massive gash on the forehead of a helmetless Hall.
In his next game, Hall was wearing a helmet during warmups after a discussion with his mother, Kim. Plenty of preventable injuries have occurred over the years, yet several teams allow their players to participate in warmups without a bucket despite a frenzy of slapshots and ricochets. The Rangers have long mandated that their players don helmets during warmups.
Should these new measures become mandatory league rules, it would be one step closer to more comprehensive player safety. Still, there's a long road ahead for the NHL in furthering the protective health of its players.
THAT'S THE GOOD, NOW THE BAD ...
Spin-the-wheel officiating and inconsistent supplemental discipline shouldn't be the standard for the highest level of professional hockey. The NHL opens itself up to ridicule on a regular basis when players receive a slap on the wrist for injuring and intending to harm fellow professionals.
Pittsburgh Penguins star Evgeni Malkin was only handed a one-game suspension for high-sticking Philadelphia Flyers wing Michael Raffl in mid-February. Malkin wildly swung his stick like a weapon after Raffl punched him in the back of the helmet. In November, Malkin went unpunished for delivering a shoulder-to-chin hit on Washington Capitals wing T.J. Oshie.
You can clearly see a wind-up and shoulder barge directly to Oshie's chin. Yet, Malkin skated away scot-free from any form of supplemental discipline.
Back in late February, Oilers captain Connor McDavid drove his shoulder into the head of Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy on a hit in which contact to the head was clearly avoidable. Though McDavid is generally regarded as a clean player and was a first-time offender, the league took the correct measure by suspending him for two games.
Malkin and McDavid are two of the game's most recognizable stars. So why exactly does Malkin get away with an obvious headshot while McDavid gets dinged with a two-game suspension?
Then, you have the absurdity of what occurred in Tuesday's contest between the Rangers and Dallas Stars. Rangers center Mika Zibanejad was handed a match penalty for boarding Dallas center Radek Faksa. Zibanejad backed into Faksa and showed immediate concern for the fallen opponent. Oddly, Zibanejad was given a five-minute major and game misconduct.
It was unfortunate that Faksa was in a vulnerable position – but there's zero intent to injure from Zibanejad. This incident is going to go down as one of the worst officiating decisions of the season. A two-minute penalty would have been fair – yet somehow the Rangers are forced to kill a five-minute major and their best skater is tossed from the game for something totally innocuous. The Rangers eventually lost to Dallas, 1-0.
All hockey fans are asking for is consistent officiating and player safety to be taken seriously by those in powerful positions and the players who compete on the ice. There have been some strides toward progress, but c'mon now, the standard of officiating needs to get better than this.
Follow Sean on Twitter at @HartnettHockey.
