Time to make visors mandatory?

[Jimmy_the_Tongue]

Can they put little windshield wipers on them for the outdoor games?....that would be awesome...

 

[dash]

Too bad Prongs didn't have one on last night...

 

[Slimpikins]

Good thing that Beauchemin had one in the Sharks-Ducks game a week or so ago. Otherwise he may have lost an eye.

 

[blindbaby]

No cup for you.

 

[mbhhofr]

I am very Old School. The only protection I wore officiating was, a cup, soccer shin pads and 1/2" wide foam rubber knee pads. Would I wear the protection that is worn today? Hell yes, I'm 72 years old.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

19 years of hockey and counting. Have never gotten hit in the promised land...

I was a goaltender when I played ice hockey, so I always wore a cup. There was no ifs, ands, or buts about that.

However, I also played in recreational roller hockey league, and since the cup that I owned for ice hockey was one of the over-sized goaltender ones, I didn't wear one while playing roller hockey.

Had a few close calls, but never took a direct hit.

 

[beantownmaniac]

Personally, I think when they made helmets mandatory, it ruined hockey. JMO

 

[PhillyPhaithful48]

I think GM's are soon going to take control of teams and mandate them. Flyers GM came out today and said Pronger will be wearing one from now on. He also sounded like a big advocate of making them mandatory.

 

[Vadered]

Absolutely they should be mandatory. This isn't 1920s football, where folks ran around with little leather hats and the worst thing that could happen to your face was you got hit with a lateral, since forward passes were illegal. It's fast, hard, physical hockey. Aside from Toronto skating around with sticks at face height, you have to worry about slap shots, sticks breaking, weird rebounds, and the occasional thrown banana.

Seriously, I have no idea why it isn't mandatory already. You can see better without a visor, true. But you can see even better with eyes that were protected from slap shots.

 

[beantownmaniac]

Absolutely they should be mandatory. This isn't 1920s football, where folks ran around with little leather hats and the worst thing that could happen to your face was you got hit with a lateral, since forward passes were illegal. It's fast, hard, physical hockey. Aside from Toronto skating around with sticks at face height, you have to worry about slap shots, sticks breaking, weird rebounds, and the occasional thrown banana.

Seriously, I have no idea why it isn't mandatory already. You can see better without a visor, true. But you can see even better with eyes that were protected from slap shots.

My only thing is how the game changed after helmets were made mandatory. Head shots, high sticking, and such seemed to increase after the rule change. I'm all for mandatory face shields of some sort in the name of safety, but make the penalties harsher for any infractions aimed at the opponents head.

 

[Vadered]

My only thing is how the game changed after helmets were made mandatory. Head shots, high sticking, and such seemed to increase after the rule change. I'm all for mandatory face shields of some sort in the name of safety, but make the penalties harsher for any infractions aimed at the opponents head.

That seems a perfectly reasonable compromise.

 

[davnlaguna]

I think it will be part of the next CBA. The reason helmets are mandatory is the insurance companies said they would not insure players unless the league made the rule on helmets. The same thing could happen with face shields. The insurance companies will refuse to pay a claim for a star that has a career ending injury. Saying that the player and the team could have avoided this by taking a reasonable precaution. the team will be stuck paying 7 mil a year and the player will be taxed on that. (insurance payments are tax exempt). Both sides will jump on visors.

 

[juliansteed]

I wouldn't mind making them mandatory along with mouth guards and maybe even throat guards. Alternatively, I wouldn't mind if each of those items remained optional on the condition that the players sign waivers stating that they will not be paid for time lost due to injuries that are deemed preventable had they been wearing those items. Of course that could lead to some disputes for some gray areas but I'm sure they could find some neutral 3rd party experts to make the call and it wouldn't bother me if the benefit of the doubt was not given to the unprotected plater.

 

[juliansteed]

I think it will be part of the next CBA. The reason helmets are mandatory is the insurance companies said they would not insure players unless the league made the rule on helmets. The same thing could happen with face shields. The insurance companies will refuse to pay a claim for a star that has a career ending injury. Saying that the player and the team could have avoided this by taking a reasonable precaution. the team will be stuck paying 7 mil a year and the player will be taxed on that. (insurance payments are tax exempt). Both sides will jump on visors.

Even if the insurance companies don't flat out refuse to continue to insure unless visors were mandatory, they would definitely appreciate the rule and ackonweldge how much it is saving them. They'll pocket some of these savings for themselves but would have to pass some along to the teams or risk losing business to a competitor that would. I doubt it would reduce the cost of doing business drastically, but significantly enough to make it worthwhile.

 

[ritari330]

Personally, if someone wants to be an idiot and not protect themselves, then let them be an idiot

 

[juliansteed]

Personally, if someone wants to be an idiot and not protect themselves, then let them be an idiot

Agree to some extent. That's why I say they shouldn't get paid due to an injury that is deemed preventable if they had a visor. If they want to put themselves and themselves only at risk then who are we to say they can't? But if they expect to get paid while injured then it's not just themselves at risk.

 

[Vadered]

Personally, if someone wants to be an idiot and not protect themselves, then let them be an idiot

And coming up after the break, the most anticipated event of this year's Olympics! That's right, it's time for Russian Roulette!

 

[SLY]

No, visors should not be mandatory. They are extremely annoying and fuck with your peripheral vision big time when you are used to nothing in front of your eyes. This is an easy in for people who want fighting banned in the NHL. It should be up to a player whether or not they want a visor. This is a dangerous sport, all hockey players know this when they start playing at a young age and/or make the transition into playing professionally. Why don't we just make it mandatory that motorcycle drivers have to wear 10 layers of bubble wrap? People accept certain risks when they engage in certain activities.

 

[sabresfaninthesouth]

No, visors should not be mandatory. They are extremely annoying and fuck with your peripheral vision big time when you are used to nothing in front of your eyes. This is an easy in for people who want fighting banned in the NHL. It should be up to a player whether or not they want a visor. This is a dangerous sport, all hockey players know this when they start playing at a young age and/or make the transition into playing professionally. Why don't we just make it mandatory that motorcycle drivers have to wear 10 layers of bubble wrap? People accept certain risks when they engage in certain activities.

I think you might be on to something there Jeff.

 

[juliansteed]

No, visors should not be mandatory. They are extremely annoying and fuck with your peripheral vision big time when you are used to nothing in front of your eyes. This is an easy in for people who want fighting banned in the NHL. It should be up to a player whether or not they want a visor. This is a dangerous sport, all hockey players know this when they start playing at a young age and/or make the transition into playing professionally. Why don't we just make it mandatory that motorcycle drivers have to wear 10 layers of bubble wrap? People accept certain risks when they engage in certain activities.

Would you say that same logic should apply to all hockey equipment?