Recently, the NHL got a bit of a scare when its meal ticket, Crosby, suffered a concussion. The injury doesn’t seem serious, but the NHL should now be on high alert. The league should be out to send a message — hits to the head won’t stand.
Crosby, who has been the victim of two suspect hits in the last week, spoke about the hits and the ensuing concussion on Saturday.
“I didn’t like them,” Crosby said of the hits, according to Yahoo. “You talk about head shots and dealing with them, and that’s been something that’s been a pretty big point of interest from everybody — GMs and players.
“There’s no way to protect yourself. Those are things that hopefully they pay more attention to. It’s easy saying that, being in this situation, but those are two hits, looking back, that I can’t say I should have done something different or had my head down. I wouldn’t change anything.”
While that hit from David Steckel may have been accidental, it likely could have been avoided. In the NFL, it’s a penalty whenever a defensive player makes contact with a quarterback’s helmet, even if it’s by accident. Vince Wilfork was even fined last week for a hit on Chad Henne, even though Henne was the one who was responsible for the helmet-to-helmet contact. While a player can sometimes be unfairly penalized or fined, the end game is safety, and similar hits in the NHL may become less frequent with a similar mind-set.
Crosby spoke about how the speed of the game affects hits from behind and how hits on “unsuspecting” players all lead to the dangerous hits that all too often end up in concussions and other serious injuries.
He’s right. And really, the only way to fix the potential problem is to come down on those delivering the hits. The NHL started to make this a priority earlier in the season, but it is something it needs to do continue to do, especially to protect its most valuable assets.
Bruins fans can sympathize, and some may even call Crosby’s concussion karma following Matt Cooke‘s infamous cheap shot on Marc Savard last season — a hit fromw hich Savard is likely still feeling the effects.
While the NHL thrives in cities like Boston and Pittsburgh, the league will be most successful by spreading the brand across the country. The NHL could use more popularity in America, and America is attracted to star power. In a league of young and emerging talent, Crosby is the best and brightest star the league has to showcase. Luckily for the league, he should be back sooner than later. Consider it, this time at least, a bullet dodged.
The NFL has laid the foundation for the NHL in how to police unnecessary and unsafe hits. Using that groundwork, along with the Crosby scare, the NHL should continue to do everything it can to ensure that its players — especially the ones that will help grow the game across to the world — are able to take the ice every night.
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