cut-resistant neck protection mandatory<\/a> for all players entering the league beginning next season, but \u2014 similar to the introduction of mandatory helmets in 1979 and visors in 2013 \u2014 existing players will have the option of continuing without neck protection if they so choose. Though the players\u2019 union educates its members on the different options for cut-resistant equipment and encourages them to use it, the equipment will remain optional for all players who are already in the NHL.<\/p>\nNearly 13 years after visors became mandatory for new NHL players, there are still four players \u2014 Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars, Ryan O\u2019Reilly of the Nashville Predators, Zach Bogosian of the Minnesota Wild and Ryan Reaves of the San Jose Sharks \u2014 who do not wear one today. If history follows, we\u2019ll likely still see players without neck protection in the NHL for a long time.<\/p>\n
Slafkovsk\u00fd, for his part, did not discount the possibility of wearing a neck guard in the future; he just needed an opportunity to get used to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like switching things during the season,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe try it in the offseason and everything will be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was three months ago. Now, Slafkovsk\u00fd, 21, is preparing to represent Slovakia in the Olympics in Milan, where every player will be forced to wear neck protection.<\/p>\n
That mandate could be seen as an annoyance by the game\u2019s best players. Or, it could \u2014 and perhaps should \u2014 be seen as an opportunity.<\/p>\n
Slafkovsk\u00fd\u2019s Canadiens teammates Brendan Gallagher and Mike Matheson were staunchly against wearing neck protection. Like Slafkovsk\u00fd, they found it restricting, cumbersome and, most importantly, too hot and sweaty.<\/p>\n
When American hockey player Adam Johnson was killed in an Elite Ice Hockey Game in England by a skate blade cut to his throat on Oct. 28, 2023, one of Gallagher\u2019s closest childhood friends, Josh Nicholls, was playing for the Sheffield Steelers alongside teammate Matt Petgrave, the player whose skate cut Johnson.<\/p>\n
The tragedy shook Nicholls, and not long afterwards, Gallagher practiced with a neck guard with the Canadiens, but he never tried it in a game, and quickly abandoned it at practice as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it was too tight,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cIt\u2019s almost like a claustrophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n
He never tried it again until this past offseason, when a major life event changed Gallagher\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the summer, I became a dad; there are just other things on your mind,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cSo, I just skated with it throughout the summer and got used to it. Now, it\u2019s something that you don\u2019t think about; it\u2019s fine. But originally, it was different. It\u2019s something you don\u2019t want to be thinking about on the ice. It\u2019s just something you want out of your mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that I\u2019m comfortable with it, I\u2019m happy I made the switch.\u201d<\/p>\n
After spending the summer experimenting with different products, Gallagher has worn cut-resistant neck protection from the first day of training camp. He finally settled on the Aycane Blade Evo base layer long sleeve because it was the best combination of protection and comfort, and he estimates it took roughly a month\u2019s worth of summer skates before the neck protection simply became a normal part of his equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt a certain point, it\u2019s not something you think about,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t too long.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most important part of getting used to the neck protection is will \u2014 a genuine desire to wear it instead of being forced. At least that was Gallagher\u2019s experience: His wife and the mother of his newborn daughter was asking him to do it, as was his father, who trains elite hockey players outside Vancouver and had a near-tragic experience with one of his players recently.<\/p>\n
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\n Mike Matheson, right, who wears a neck guard, jokes around with Canadiens teammate Cole Caufield, who does not. (Steph Chambers \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The same is true of Matheson, who had resisted wearing neck protection his whole career because it made him too hot on the ice. But Matheson has a 4-year-old son who is obsessed with hockey, and he had reached an age where he was asking his dad some questions that were difficult for him to answer without looking like a bit of a hypocrite.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think just the simple fact my son\u2019s getting older and playing, and at that age he has to wear one, but he\u2019s already asked why certain guys don\u2019t wear helmets in warmups and stuff like that,\u201d Matheson explained. \u201cSo, he notices that stuff. And so I decided I should be wearing one, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t really an \u2018I\u2019ll see how it feels\u2019 sort of thing. It was, \u2018I\u2019m wearing one now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Matheson wears the same model of neck protection as Gallagher and benefited from his teammate\u2019s trial-and-error process in the summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the first one I tried,\u201d Matheson said.<\/p>\n
And though it took some getting used to, Matheson got there because he wanted to get used to it \u2014 needed to get used to it \u2014 because he had decided to wear one for reasons more important than preference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s just one of those things that\u2019s a personal decision,\u201d Matheson said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s the sort of thing you can force on somebody; it\u2019s really whether they want to or not. And they\u2019ll, quite simply, live with the consequences if they make that decision or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallagher\u2019s next-door neighbor in the Canadiens\u2019 locker room is captain Nick Suzuki, a member of Team Canada at the Olympics.<\/p>\n
Will Suzuki consider keeping the neck protection after the Olympics? After playing the biggest games of his life with it?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know. I\u2019ll see if I play well,\u201d Suzuki said. \u201cIt\u2019s not really something I\u2019ve thought about.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
\n Nick Suzuki practices on Sunday in Milan while wearing a neck guard. (Gregory Shamus \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
All of the NHL players who arrived in Italy for the Olympics on Sunday morning have had an opportunity to get on the ice. Most have practiced with a neck guard on to get used to it. Some are still waiting until they are absolutely forced.<\/p>\n
And some, such as Team Canada veteran Brad Marchand, are wearing the least intrusive \u2014 and least protective \u2014 equipment they can find.<\/p>\n
\u201cMine\u2019s small, so I don\u2019t notice it very much,\u201d Marchand said after his first practice. \u201cSome guys got the big ones out there \u2014 Sid (Crosby)\u2019s got a whole goalie neck guard, it\u2019s disgusting. Some guys have it with the shirt built in. It\u2019s a bit different, but you forget about it pretty quick.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marchand, 37, has played in the NHL for more than 16 years. If he\u2019s able to forget about it in about an hour on the ice, perhaps after two weeks of wearing one, he might consider wearing one permanently?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, absolutely not,\u201d he said immediately. \u201cBut I forgot it was even on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why not keep it then?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s weird,\u201d Marchand said, tugging at the tiny piece of equipment hanging very loosely around his neck. \u201cPlus, it doesn\u2019t protect anything. It\u2019s just hanging there.\u201d<\/p>\n
But for New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier of Switzerland, it is something he considered before even arriving in Milan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly was thinking a little bit about it, and it\u2019s a very dangerous area up there,\u201d he said. \u201cYou hear of these freak accidents and you never really want to be part of it, but you don\u2019t want to think too much about it. I honestly wouldn\u2019t mind either if, at some point, like they do overseas, they make it mandatory too, because in a lot of leagues it is already. But I don\u2019t know. I haven\u2019t thought about if I\u2019m going to keep it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for Slafkovsk\u00fd, Scarface himself, he had not given the neck guard a trial run before leaving for Milan. He last wore one in his draft year, playing in Liiga in Finland because he was under 18, and it was therefore mandatory, unlike junior hockey in Canada, where it is not. That was only four years ago.<\/p>\n
At Monday’s practice in Milan, Slafkovsk\u00fd had a neck guard that went all the way up his neck, stopping maybe an inch or two shy of that scar on his cheek. Team Slovakia had a long, hard practice, and Slafkovsk\u00fd kept the neck protection on the whole time. But as soon as Slovakia broke away from the practice-ending huddle with the coach \u2014 as soon as he was allowed \u2014 Slafkovsk\u00fd undid the neck guard on the back and let it hang loose in the front as he continued taking shots and messing around on the ice after practice for another 15 or 20 minutes.<\/p>\n
He was clearly uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not bad, I was just sweating a little more,” he said. “It\u2019s good. I\u2019m going to make some corrections so it fits even better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps, when Slafkovsk\u00fd and his fellow NHL Olympians have had the time they need to make the necessary adjustments and get mentally accustomed so it’s no longer a thought, the NHL\u2019s players might realize that wearing neck protection is not a nuisance and that they can perform at the highest level while also protecting their throats from potentially lethal cuts.<\/p>\n
And perhaps they will then also realize that if the world\u2019s best hockey players can adapt to a new piece of equipment, the rest of the world\u2019s players will be more likely to follow suit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN \u2014 Montreal Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsk\u00fd was walking through the bowels of Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5103],"tags":[265,5,54125,264,21,5147,4,2602],"class_list":{"0":"post-454258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal-canadiens","8":"tag-canadiens","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-mens-olympic-ice-hockey","11":"tag-montreal","12":"tag-montreal-canadiens","13":"tag-montrealcanadiens","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-olympics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116051828701842703","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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