During the off season the NHL announced the addition of several new rules implemented in the hopes of both reducing the number of concussions endured by players and eliminating the type of play that led to them. The addition of these rules represents--at the very least--an acknowledgement that the NHL needed to change the way the game was played in order to protect its players. As I have said, the implementation of such protocol was long overdue and by finally putting it in place the league is indeed taking a small step forward. It would seem to me, however, that as long as we’re trying to eliminate the type of play that causes concussions, why don’t we get rid of the part where 250lb men punch each other in the head as hard as they can with bare fists?
Happily, Commissioner Gary Bettman provides an explanation for the seemingly paradoxical existence of fist fighting in a league determined to cut out concussions. In an interview he did for John Branch’s amazing New York Times article chronicling the life of Derek Boogaard, Bettman explains that “there isn’t a lot of data, and the experts who [they’ve] talked to, who consult with us, think that it’s way premature to be drawing any conclusions at this point.” Now, I don’t want to question the professionalism of your “experts,” Gar. But, a group of people who think its “way premature” to connect concussions to getting punched in the head by--what is essentially--a professional fighter, sound like a conveniently tentative group of motherfuckers to me.
If the league is truly serious about protecting the grey matter of all (read: even the ones that aren’t Sidney Crosby) of its employees they really have no choice but to take steps that would eliminate hockey fighting from the game. Obviously, five minutes in the penalty box has proven to be an unsatisfactory deterrence. I would further argue that even a one or two game suspension would not go far enough as enforcers are frequently healthy scratches for that amount of time anyway. If the NHL wanted to remove fighting from the game the punishment would have to be much more severe. As I see it, the most productive way of devising this punishment would be to take into account the amount of time a person requires to recover from a concussion and base it around that.
The sportsmd.com article regarding CTE that I sited previously stated that new studies have shown that “85% of concussions require about three weeks of recovery.” Given that teams play roughly three games a week I figure a ten game suspension would not only provide a fighter with the necessary recovery time, it would force the hand of NHL general managers and coaches. Even if an enforcer was being paid the league minimum it wouldn’t be worth it for a team to sacrifice salary cap space to employ him if he had to sit out for three weeks every time he did the thing he was being paid to do. Of course, the only way this new arrangement would work is if it was--like most rule changes--also implemented in the AHL. Otherwise, teams could simply keep a stockpile of fighters ready to take on the role of enforcer any time theirs was lost to suspension.
Unfortunately, given Gary Bettman’s above statement it would seem that the NHL has yet to even properly identify the league’s biggest problem and so it is unlikely that they will be making steps to rectify it any time in the near future. What one hopes is that once the NHL find sufficient evidence that a possible symptom of being punched repeatedly in the head is a concussion, they will also figure out that the decision to remove fighting is completely up to them. Ultimately, the temptation to play in the NHL is too great for the average person. And, this is made clear by the fact that despite seeing the life of an enforcer effectively kill his brother, Aaron Boogard is currently toiling in the CHL in the hopes of becoming one himself. In the conclusion of Branch’s article it is revealed that though Aaron’s mother has pleaded with him to quit, the young man feels trapped by his lack of options. “Honestly,” he explains, “what else am I going to do?”
No comments:
Post a Comment