Comments on: Flyers owner: NHL equipment too hard

By: Jeff

Jeff — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 23:27:16 +0000

I agree withe Snider and Davidson for sure. The players need to respect each other more too. Gordie Howe has been saying that for years too.

By: stakex

stakex — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:40:38 +0000

Well said. No rule change, or threat of suspension is going to stop the amount of concussions we are seeing in the NHL right now. Softer equipment might not prevent every concussion, but it will sure as hell help with some of them. No reason for the NHL to drag their feet any longer.

By: hibackhand

hibackhand — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 21:04:57 +0000

players are in better shape than ever, bigger, stronger, faster. In the old days they would smoke stogies as a pre-game warmup.

By: hank10

hank10 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:06:49 +0000

The more armored the players get, the more invincible they feel and the more damage is inflicted on hits. This ties in with the issue with the seamless glass that was recently changed.

By: sknut

sknut — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:22:48 +0000

Are the helmets any better? And do guys wear mouth guards? I thought I heard that wearing mouth guards helps reduce the impact of concussions. I just hope they the NHL and NHLPA make the necessary changes to make players safe as possible.

By: icelovinbrotha215

icelovinbrotha215 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:17:40 +0000

The equipment is too hard. Mr. Snider is right. It’s the same with football and the helmets.

By: bchaz19

bchaz19 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:15:01 +0000

There’s something to this. When I was playing in junior, they were just starting to put out the football-style padding all players wear today. Before that, most guys wore the thin pads that really did little more than prevent pucks from leaving welts. If you hit a guy, you were going to feel it every bit as much as he did – especially if you didn’t line him up right.

When I was in college, everyone was wearing the football-style pads and the hitting picked up for sure because you knew if you creamed a guy – even if you missed – it wasn’t going to hurt much. Players need the padding on the hands and forearms, but if the game is played right there’s almost no need for those big pads with the hard plastic. You worry about a guy giving a BC-two-hander across your forearm, not getting plowed in the head buy a guy doing 20mph.

By: pens919209

pens919209 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:59:21 +0000

I find some real irony in the fact that the league switched over to these Reebok ‘uniform systems’ to make players lighter and faster, yet the protective equipment has become on par with wearing a suit of armor. Looks to me like the wrong issue was addressed.

By: missthemexpos

missthemexpos — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:44:28 +0000

The equipment hockey players wear these days make them gladiators on ice.

By: triplepropalm

triplepropalm — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:26:55 +0000

The NHL already mandated softer shoulder caps prior to the 2010-11 season.

This is an anonymous NHL player talking about them:

Sometimes there are unintended consequences to rule changes as well. At the beginning of the 2010-11 season all players were required to switch to shoulder pads with thicker, softer foam on the shoulder caps.

The idea was that the softer padding would reduce injuries in the event of shoulder to head contact. These new shoulder pads are universally unpopular with the players. They are huge, and I know many of teammates feel that they are so protective that they actually encourage players to hit even more recklessly. As a result, the new shoulder pads could produce the opposite effect for which they were originally intended.

I am told the League is now considering going to the opposite end of the spectrum and reducing the size of the shoulder caps. If they make them small enough, the hitter might be more conscious of the chances of injuring himself, and therefore are likely to play under control.

By: merchaholic

merchaholic — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:09:32 +0000

I heard this is the equipment everyone will be using for World War 3.

By: 1943mrmojorisin1971

1943mrmojorisin1971 — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:09:16 +0000

Of course it is, it has been for some time, and Don Cherry has been championing this cause for years like you said. Why Bettman would rather meddle with the rules and supplementary discipline rather than addressing this issue is beyond me. Just goes to show how clueless he really is