It’s been seen left and right in the National League, and it’s now the turn of the Canadiens players to try the experiment: Brendan Gallagher and Michael Pezzetta participated in Wednesday’s training wearing protective gear neck.
Their initiative comes in the wake of the tragic death of Adam Johnson, former Penguins forward, who was fatally struck in the throat by a skate blade during a game in England on October 28.
The few players who have tested it in training since the tragedy — Erik Karlsson and Lars Eller, among others — have attracted attention, but the fact remains that the initiative has not exactly been wildfire in the NHL. Pezzetta also tried to explain the phenomenon.
So far, only one teammate, Gallagher, has imitated him. “I just wanted to try it. It went better than I expected. I will continue to try it in training. I don’t have a plan, said the oldest Canadian forward.
“Breathing is correct. The tracksuit is similar. The only thing really was that it came up high on my neck, so my neck was always stretched. It’s minor. I won’t wear it tomorrow [during the game in Detroit] for that reason, because I was very aware that I was wearing it and that’s not desirable when you play such a fast and robust sport. But it’s certainly possible for players to wear it in a match if they do it often enough in training. »
Discussions to make this piece of equipment mandatory are still embryonic. “If I had to comment, I believe it will be incorporated with an acquired rights clause,” predicted Gallagher, Mike Matheson’s assistant as “union representative” of the Habs within the Players’ Association.
If this is the case, the neck protector would follow the same pattern as the visor. Regulation 9.7, introduced after the 2012 lockout, provided that starting “from the 2013-2014 season, any player with less than 25 games of experience in the NHL must wear a visor properly attached to his helmet.”
To date, Ryan O’Reilly, Milan Lucic, Matt Martin, Ryan Reaves, Zach Bogosian and Jamie Benn are the last players to skate without eye protection in the NHL, according to a compilation by The Hockey News from last winter. That list also included Zack Kassian, now retired, and Jordie Benn, who is playing in Sweden this season.
