10. Ban head contact
The NHL has slowly started to realize that head contact is ruining the lives of many of its players. Yet, they have done a very minimal amount to reduce the impact of brain injuries.
Players are still allowed to punch opponents in the face as many times as they want, and can return to the game five minutes later. Players are still allowed to body check other players and make contact to their head.
The only thing they aren’t allowed to do is run a guy from the blindside at a high rate of speed and elbow him in the head with extreme force. It sounds fairly obvious, but it was actually deemed legal in 2010, just ask Marc Savard.
While there has been progress, there needs to be a lot more done immediately. Not only should you not be allowed to “Matt Cooke” someone, but you also should not be allowed to make contact to anyone’s head. Ever. Call it a head contact penalty. The IIHF does it. Why can’t the NHL?
In lower levels of hockey, there are penalties for head contact based on intent and the degree of impact. If you try to initiate a legal body check but in the process make contact to the opponent’s head you get a minor penalty. Should the initial point of contact be the head, or there is intent to hit the opponent in the head, the penalty becomes a double-minor. If the degree of impact is deemed to be severe, the penalty becomes a major.
The NHL needs to institute similar rules. They also need to enforce them strictly. It’s easy for a referee to let a guy get away with it when he gives someone a punch to the head after a whistle.
However, if it was called regularly in October and November next season, players would be safer on the ice, body checkers would need to be more in control, useless scrums would be reduced to a minimum, and skilled players would rule the roost once again by Christmas.
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