Showing posts with label hockey. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hockey. Show all posts

Sunday, February 17, 2019

NHL Concussion Discussion

A hot topic for many sports leagues of late has been that of concussions, most notably the NFL and the NHL. Articles have been written, discussions have been held, studies have been conducted, rulings have been handed down, and movies have been made. So what exactly is being done by the NHL to slow down this trend? Lets take a look at the subject from the 2019 perspective. 

First of all, we will not be commenting on the current lawsuit situation which has been focused on to death. Let's will leave well enough alone. Let us begin with taking note of some examples of players who have had their careers ended due to concussions. Most notably we have the Eric Lindros case. A Phillie star entering the league with a lot of attention, he was the target of many a cheap hit. After a number of concussions he decided to hang up his skates and try to live with the brain damage inflicted. Marc Savard is another player, this time a Bruin, who had his career shattered due to sever concussion. Then we have Keith Primeau, Chris Pronger, Pat LaFontaine, and the list goes on and on. With so many players being forced into retirement due to concussions, you are likely asking yourself, so what? What can be done by sports leagues, specifically the NHL in this case, to drastically reduce this type of injury? 

It is true that the players and their families know very well what risks they are taking when they join the league. Which seems to be a fact often ignored by those bringing these lawsuits forward, they need to take some of the ownership themselves, especially since many with career-ending concussions, are guilty themselves of inflicting cheap hits on their fellow players. However the league does need to take further actions to prevent this from happening. 

They are not taking this trend by idly sitting back and watching it happen. With all the attention lately they have been doing more to reduce these stats, but the question remains, what more can be done? First let us take a look at what they have already done, then we can look at a variety of options available to them. The league has looked into reducing and nearly eliminating fighting. Many people  enjoy watching a good fight, and we can all see how it is seen as a necessary to stand up for a teammate. That being said though, is dropping the gloves the necessary reaction? No. In fact it is a dangerous and risky way to defend ones teammate. We now know the risks of fighting, and how likely a fight is to lead to permanent brain damage in the long run. The league has eliminated staged fights, which is great, those were pathetic and ridiculous, serving no justifiable purpose. They have also made it so players cannot remove their helmet before a fight. It has been proposed that fighting be completely taken out of the league. Players can find more creative and productive means of defending each other. 

Next we look at a few other factors. The league has changed to hybrid icing, which was hated at first, but now people can see the purpose of this, as  fewer players crash into the boards after the play. The NHL and NHLPA have also looked into cheap hits, mainly hits from behind and checking to the head. With speed taking over the game and bruisers exiting the league, these changes are necessary as many star players are much smaller, so more at risk of injury from cheap hits. What more could the league do in terms of these hits? One huge difference maker would be to penalize all blindside hits, and look into stiffer suspensions. In terms of the Canucks for example, two hits in particular over the past few years come tp mind, although these examples could come from any team in the league. The first would be a blindside hit to Daniel Sedin as he skated into the offensive zone, he was creamed from the blindside, no penalty given, although he left and missed games with a concussion. Another example could be Sven Baertschi he has had a couple of blindside hits against him, which have resulted in many a game missed from concussions. If you dig deeper, you could look at many other players including the superstar player Sidney Crosby. These blindside hits are dangerous, inconsiderate, and quite irresponsible and the NHL needs to do a lot more to prevent these hits from taking place, put more disciplinary action in place to deter these infractions. Best way to avoid lawsuits against you? Take action to prevent the cause of the lawsuit in the first place.

The league has also implemented concussion protocols for during a game. In 2011 teams had to watch for concussion symptoms and pull players suspected of having sustained a concussion until they are cleared to return by a physician. The flaw in this was that teams could easily choose to ignore these symptoms, or players could hide symptoms to continue to play. To prevent this the league took further action in 2015. A league official now watches for situations where players may have sustained a concussion. If they deem that the player may have sustained a concussion, the player is removed and must sit out until a physician clears them. This is a great rule, but it is still flawed, and it is unclear how they can overcome this flaw, but concussions often don't show symptoms immediately, often it takes 24-48 for these symptoms to present themselves. As a result the league needs to much more strict with this protocol. 

Another thing that the league should be looking at implementing, is a concussion threshold. What is meant by this is to set a maximum number of concussions limit. We currently have several players who have had several concussions over the course of their careers and yet they are still playing. Sven Beartschi, as mentioned before, has had the most concussions in active players, leading the way with 6 known concussions. Is it safe to allow these players to continue their careers and risk further brain damage? It seems irresponsible to do so. What threshold should be proposed? Five seems like a good number, but doctors should be the ones to sit down with the NHL and NHLPA to decide this number. Any players who reach this threshold should be made to be on LTIR for the remainder of their contracts, then forced into a retirement. Many other jobs are found by retired players, so it is not like they would be hung out to dry. At the end of the day, their safety and protection of their brains must be first and foremost. 

Responsibility falls on every member of the NHL. The league, owners, players, coaches,  trainers, and the NHLPA. Together a solution must be found, further action needs to be taken. 

Sunday, January 10, 2016

Proposed Draft Changes and The Oilers

Whenever you hear anything about the NHL draft, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Edmonton Oilers of course! Why is this? Because season after season, draft after draft, the Edmonton Oilers take either first overall or a Top 5 pick. Does it ever seem to help them in any way? No. Year after year they still wind up on the bottom. This will be discussed in more detail later on.

When one team consistently gets Top Pick or Top 5 Picks, it leaves the other teams without. This hardly seems like the right way to operate a draft, not by any intentional fault of the NHL, or any league, but it does leave one to wonder if there is a better way to setup a draft? In any conversation where draft comes up, there is a lot of talk about reformation. The most commonly proposed reforms would be in the amount of Top 5 Picks one team should be allowed to receive within a 5 or 10 year span. Limiting these picks would spread out the wealth and prevent one team from consistently receiving and ruining prospects. Which leads to the proposed draft changes, and this can be applied to any league or level of hockey.

Proposition: No single team should be allowed to receive more than 2 First Overall Draft Picks within a 5 year span, and a maximum of 3 in a ten year span. Never in back-to-back years. Secondly, no single team should receive more than 3 top 5 picks within a 5 year span with a maximum of 5 in a ten year period.

These changes would allow for teams to still be in the bottom consistently, get their picks, but prevent teams from abusing the system. It also prevents teams who have a tendency to destroy prospects from hindering growth of players within the NHL or any league. In theory, a team who gets Top 5 Picks should be able to turn their team around within a 3 year period. For example we could look at Pittsburg and Crosby, Washington and Ovechkin, Chicago and Toews, Florida and Ekblad, Los Angeles and Doughty. These teams have all managed to turn into Cup winners or Cup contenders just by drafting high. They did not wallow in the bottom. Which is exactly what the draft order was supposed to do for these teams, give them a shot at winning through rebuilding.

Which brings me to the topic of the Edmonton Oilers. Once again, we see them in the bottom. They have moments of brightness, followed by moments of sheer disaster. Granted they have McDavid injured, but with all the Top Picks on that team they should be able to fill the gap. Are they capable of recouping their season? Yes, but sadly they are incapable of doing so without McDavid. So what is the issue? The issue is the culture of losing they have developed. Once this culture has been developed, it becomes a part of them, difficult to overcome. They stop believing they can score, connect the pass, make the save, prevent a player from getting position. Once it gets in their head, its stuck. Success can't be had by those who believe it can't be had. It takes a good coach, with a lot of player shuffling to drive this culture from a team, and transform them into a winning contender.

Edmonton needs to stop relying on the thought of what the next Top Pick will get them, and focus on what they can do with the picks they already have in their system. Who can they shuffle around to develop and bring in a winning culture. Which players they need to design another rebuild around. Draisaitl, Hall, and Nurse would be great choices for this. Which veterans can they trade a younger prospect for to bring in leadership. Trade Eberle, Nugent-Hopkins, Yakapov, suck up your losses and move on. Young people need leadership, not just from their coach, or GM, but from the ice level as well. This is something Edmonton has been sorely lacking, a good leader. The main problem with having so much star power on one team is that they all want, and rightly so, the limelight. As a result they don't mesh, and don't play well together.

They also need to quit taking a player just because he is ranked high. Think of the team's needs. If you need a defenseman, pick one in the draft, don't take the forward because he is ranked one higher. If you need a goalie, draft one, or give something decent up for a decent acquisition. Quit throwing goalies under the bus and blaming losses on them. Get the team to play in front of them, without offensive and defensive support, a goalie will find it very difficult to save a game.



Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Ryan Kesler and the Canucks

I will start by saying that I am a devoted Canuck fan and always have been. I am in no way bashing the Canucks, just expressing displeasure with the way fans are treating him.

Lately I have been reading a lot from Canucks fans about how angry they are with Ryan Kesler for leaving. Talk is that they will boo him during his return game, and are calling him self-centered. This is a total dishonor to what he has done for the team over the years. He spent 10 years playing for them, putting up great numbers, sacrificing his body, and giving his all every game. He carried the team during their playoff runs, when the better paid Sedins did not produce. He had already requested a trade last year, and when that didn't happen, he still continued to sweat blood for the Canucks every game, playing ridiculous ice time each game, wearing him thin.

Can you really blame the guy if he wants to win a cup in the near future? Isn't that every single players dream? Iginla is trying the same after leaving the Flames, and Alfredsson did the same after Ottawa, that's only a couple of examples. Why is it so bad that Kesler wishes the same? He isn't getting any younger and the Canucks won't be cup ready for 4-5 years yet as their young talent develops. Is it a little self-centered? Yeah sure it is, but if he wants to accomplish his Stanley Cup dream before he has to retire, he kind of has to think about himself. At the end of the day he wants to play and he wants to win. Why shouldn't such a hard working, skilled player have a true shot at a Cup ring?

What Canuck fans should be doing is cheering his move, and wishing him all the best in his future NHL endeavors. He gets to play with another class act, Ryan Getzlaf, so be happy for that. take a page from the Flames book, and give him an honor screen at the first game back at the Rogers Arena, just like with Iginla, thus giving the guy the respect he deserves. I personally hope that Anaheim has a deeper playoff run this year and that Kesler can win his Cup the year, getting that out of his system, so that he can return to the Canucks satisfied and use his Cup Ring to inspire the young Canuck prospects to strive for just that. It may make him a better leader in the end.

So stop being a bunch of whiners and grow up, such is the world of sports!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Book Review- Sigmund Brouwer- Chief Honor




Sigmund Brouwer- Chief Honor (Word Publishing 1997) 4 Stars



Joseph Larken is the main goalie for the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL. Now Lauren Cross has been signed onto the team and this could threaten his position, as the fact that she is a female goalie is generating a lot of media attention. When steroids are found in Lauren’s things she is suddenly kicked off the team, but Joseph Larken is discovering that there may be more to these steroids than first meets the eye.



I loved this series when I was young, but had never read this one. I enjoyed reading this and how much it teaches young people about hockey, that way those who do not know about hockey can still enjoy the series. It was interesting to see hockey from a goalie’s perspective, as I do not usually think of hockey in that way. I also enjoyed the characters as they were fairly good for a kid’s book, but could have been stronger. I also thought that plot could have been better, but it was still decent. I would certainly recommend this book and the rest of the series.



For more of my reviews check out my website, www.tonypeters.webs.com



Tony Peters


Kids on a Case: The Case of the Ten Grand Kidnapping


http://authortonypeters.blogspot.com/