An Injury Plagued League

Players are often so focused on getting the puck into the net, that they leave themselves in vulnerable positions without even realizing it. This vulnerability is essentially what leads to injuries.

The first half of the 2011-2012 season was full of back-to-back injuries amongst some of the NHL’s most promising players. Common upper and lower body injuries have forced a few important players out of their team’s lineup, but the spike in concussion related injuries around the league has seemed to draw the most attention.

Every player reacts to a concussion differently, based on the severity of the hit they sustained. While some players, like Claude Giroux, Ryan Miller, Jeff Skinner, and Kris Letang were out for a short period of time, others have had reoccurring concussion-like symptoms and have not played a single game in months.

Chris Pronger, captain of the Philadelphia Flyers, has been sidelined with severe concussion-like symptoms. He has not played a game since November 19 of last year, and was recently told that he would not be playing for the rest of the season.

Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ star forward and captain, has missed nearly 13 months of game play after taking consecutive hits to the head last season. Although he returned on November 21, 2011 and had 12 points in eight games, symptoms resurfaced following a few brutal hits against the Boston Bruins on December 5. Crosby has still not been cleared to play and is currently in the process of recovering. Many have questioned whether or not Crosby will even return this season. With a concussion this severe, and with the most recent update that he had suffered a neck injury along with his concussion, people are starting to believe that his hockey playing days are over.

But who are we to make that call? We’re not his doctors and we have no way of knowing how far along he really is in his recovery. A concussion is defined as a traumatic brain injury that alters the way your brain functions. It’s not something that just goes away overnight.

So, what has the league done to prevent these types of head injuries? Brendan Shanahan, NHL's chief player disciplinarian, has already issued several fines for illegal hits, but is this really enough?

A hefty fine sure does make a bold statement, but change has to start with the players themselves.

For now, all we can really do is hope that players, who are or become injured sometime this season, have a speedy recovery and are back on the ice soon.