Head hits not black-and-white issue for NHL

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Solving the National Hockey League's problem of hits to the head requires a varied approach because, unlike fighting or hits from behind, it is not a black-and-white issue.While the result of the most serious hits is always the same -- a concussion -- the hits range from perfectly legal to accidental to intentional. And that is why the NHL Players' Association, with some involvement from the league, is trying several different solutions, from teaching players to respect each other's safety more to modifying equipment and to changing tactics.Glenn Healy, the NHLPA's director of player affairs, said the biggest problem are the shoulder hits delivered to the head. But they are made in different circumstances."We had 65 concussions last season (to NHL players)," he said. "Thirty-nine of them were from shoulder-to-head contact. We want to eliminate that."The first step came last summer when Healy talked the players and the league into testing shoulder pads with softer pads instead of the hard plastic currently used on the shoulder portion of the equipment. This follows the adoption of softer pads on the outside of elbow pads last year, which is considered a success.The new shoulder pads were made available to the players this season, although given the attachment of some players to equipment going back to their childhood, not all of them are using the new pads. The union and the league will collect information from the players this season and study it next summer to determine the next course of action.At this point, the NHLPA feels a rule change specifically banning hits to the head should be a last resort."There's lots of way to address this instead of giving the referee a new whistle and having him kick somebody out of a game," Healy said.Several players interviewed about the issue agree a rule change is not necessary. They think this could reduce the physical aspect of the game, which in turn could reduce its appeal."It's so tough because every hit is different," Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier said. "There are a lot of grey areas. For example, if I hit (teammate) Martin St. Louis, I'm taller than him and I'm sure I'm going to hit his head."A couple of the recent head shots illustrate this problem and one other: where the victim goes into a danger zone with his head down.Kurt Sauer of Phoenix propelled Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn into the glass with his shoulder and arms. But Kostitsyn was stick-handling with his head down and did not see the Coyotes' defenseman coming. At 6-4, Sauer is four inches taller than Kostitsyn, which means that when the latter is hunched over handling the puck, chances are his head will be in the line of contact with a shoulder or elbow.Lecavalier and others see hits such as the one Sauer made or the one Doug Weight of the New York Islanders made on Carolina rookie Brandon Sutter as part of a rough-and-tumble game. What they want to see eliminated are the headhunters, that small percentage of NHL players who look for a chance to rock someone and unfailingly take it."Weight is not necessarily a dirty player," Lecavalier said. "He doesn't go after heads. But there's some guys who do, a few guys in the league. If a guy leaves his position to make a hit, he should (be subject to discipline)."Someone, Lecavalier said, such as Toronto's Ryan Hollweg, who has already served two suspensions involving hits from behind."He's one of the four or five players in the league who hits you on the blind side," Lecavalier said. "He doesn't respect anybody. That's how he plays. Everybody knows when he's on the ice, you've got to keep your head up because he's coming."The NHLPA is not lobbying to revoke the instigator rule, long the bane of those who insist the players can police themselves. These folks insist that if players were not constrained by the threat of a minor penalty for instigating a fight, they would soon beat some sense into the headhunters.Instead, Healy said he and NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly are showing players a video that depicts players in vulnerable positions and shows their opponents not finishing with a shot to the head or making a different body check."We would like the change the culture when it comes to that hit," Healy said.(Contact David Shoalts at dshoalts@globeandmail.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)