Four Winnipeg Jets wore neck guards during Wednesday’s practice following the recent tragedy in England, in which American player Adam Johnson was killed after his throat was slit by an opponent’s skate blade.
Vladislav Namestnikov, Cole Perfetti, Nikolaj Ehlers and Rasmus Kupari all tried the neck guard, although the players had some familiarity with the devices after using them in youth hockey.
“You always wear it when you grow up and then you reach the professional level, it’s actually not mandatory,” Namestnikov said, as quoted on the team’s website. “Guys decided to try it out today and I think that’s a good thing. So I’ll keep trying and hopefully I’ll get used to it and wear it.”
Pefretti admitted that the neck guards are an adjustment.
“It’s definitely an uncomfortable feeling (wearing it), it’s something you have to get used to,” he said. “I don’t know if it looks for the best, but at the end of the day I’m just trying to be safe. That’s the end goal.’
Nikolaj Ehlers #27, Vladislav Namestnikov #7, Cole Perfetti #91, Dylan Samberg #54 and Nate Schmidt #88 of the Winnipeg Jets appear for a recent game. Ehlers, Namestnikov and Perfetti all experiment with neck protectors during practice
Adam Johnson was killed by an opponent’s skating blade during a recent match in England
The stream protector is barely visible to fans and only protrudes slightly above the collar
The device is barely visible to fans and only extends slightly above the collar, but it is actually part of a larger base layer that fits over a player’s torso, shoulders and neck.
Associate coach Scott Arniel explained that the team wants to make them available to anyone who wants extra protection.
“There are also some new things on the market and the coaches are trying to find some different looks for these guys,” Arniel said. “Some of the guys wanted to get into it today and see how they feel, and I’m sure there might be a few more guys who want to do it too.
‘Of course there is nothing mandatory from the competition at the moment, but there are guys who are certainly concerned about that. You just have to get a feel for it.’
Johnson’s death sparks further discussions about cut-resistant protection in the NHL and other leagues.
Commissioner Gary Bettman and Players’ Association President Marty Walsh connected Sunday in the immediate aftermath of the death to initiate further discussions between the league and the association.
The two sides have been studying skate cut injuries and how to reduce and avoid them for several years, and now the topic has taken on greater urgency at various levels of the sport.
“We’re going to look into everything,” Walsh, the former mayor of Boston and U.S. Secretary of Labor, said Wednesday. “We need to continue to have conversations about this as we move forward.” It’s a change for the players, but it’s also about protecting them, so I think we’ll have those conversations as we move forward.”
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is considering several options regarding neck guards
Johnson, a 29-year-old from Minnesota, died at a hospital after being cut in the neck by an opponent’s skate blade during a game Saturday night in the Elite Ice Hockey League. The league called it a ‘freak accident’ and South Yorkshire Police have said they are investigating.
The incident has already had an impact across the Atlantic, with the American Hockey League and ECHL affiliates of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the organization Johnson once played for, mandating neck protectors for players. The AHL and ECHL, in consultation with the Professional Hockey Players’ Association, made cut-resistant wrist and foot/ankle protection mandatory last summer.
Union chief Marty Walsh, the former mayor of Boston, said the NHLPA will ‘weigh everything’
“We’ve seen it with other things, especially with visors, if the players get used to it in the AHL, they’ll want to keep using it in the NHL, so that’s the theory with the wrist guards and the foot socks that it’s something new and that the players have to get used to it,” AHL president and CEO Scott Howson told The Associated Press by phone Tuesday. “Given what happened this weekend with Adam Johnson, we are working with the NHL to figure out what the next step is for neck guards.”
The English Ice Hockey Association announced it would make neck protectors mandatory from January 1, 2024, citing possible supply issues. TJ Oshie of the NHL’s Washington Capitals said the apparel and equipment company he co-owns has already run out of a full stock of cut-resistant neck protection.
No such mandate currently exists in the NHL, although many players have added Kevlar or other protective material in the decade since five-time All-Star Erik Karlsson suffered a torn Achilles tendon from a skate cut. Evander Kane missed more than two months last season after his left wrist was severed by a skate blade.
Such injuries have made cutting skates an issue of great importance for years.
“It was on the burner,” Bettman said. “It’s something we’ve looked at in terms of lacerations to the wrist, lacerations to the leg – and worse – and it’s something we’ll continue to discuss and continue to study.”
A detailed view of the emblem honoring Adam Johnson can be seen on Nikolaj Ehlers’ helmet
Walsh said skate blade safety was a new issue when he met with a team on Sunday evening and that players contacted members of his staff to discuss it. The same goes for minor league players who are members of the PHPA, many of whose opinions have changed rapidly since Johnson’s death.
“The topic is now the focus of team meetings — the players are bringing it up,” PHPA executive director Larry Landon told the AP by phone Wednesday. “Our guys are asking for it. Some boys ask for neck protectors. A lot of guys who knew Adam want neck guards out of respect for him, and we’ll see where that leads in the coming weeks.”
While the desire to try out protective gear has increased, there’s no point in the NHL and players in the world’s top hockey league rushing to make neck protectors mandatory. Walsh expects discussions with players and the league office will continue, just as they did with visors and, decades earlier, helmets.
“We do not impose equipment changes without permission from the players’ association,” Bettman said. ‘This has always been a collaborative effort and together we have spent the last several years studying cut-resistant materials and the injuries caused by skate blades. This is not something new that we need to focus on.”