NHL Insanity

Don't confuse this with college basketball March Madness.

NHL Hockey players are NOT required to wear a face visor to protect their eyes from a stray puck. Another player got beaned in the eye last night and rather than saying his name and giving the details I just want to say what I think of the situation in general.

73% of the players in the league wear the visors voluntarily. That's up from 69% from a year ago. While that's good news, that means that 27% (more than 1 in 4) still think that leaving their face open as a target for a puck sailing at over 105 mph is a good idea.

Why? It's the union that represents players that is the problem. THEY want to give the players "a choice" in this situation. With all of the talk about unions wanting what's BEST for player's safety in the NFL, this strikes me as very misanthropic, misguided thinking on the part of the NHLPA.

IF I were the team owners, I'd add a stipulation to EVERY players contract that says if you get hit the face when choosing not to wear a visor you will be responsible for your own medical insurance for the incident and that you will not be paid for any game time lost as a result of the incident. If you can no longer play at all, your contract will be voided.

It's okay to have the choice, but the players should also be the ones financially responsible for that decision.

Choices have consequences. Right now owners are paying for bad player decisions. That's simply not right. Maybe the UNION should be responsible for the insurance on those players. My guess is the rule would become mandatory in a big hurry if that happened. 73% of the players would carry the vote rather quickly.