Pre Season Casualties: Was it Worth it?

Hockey is a physical game, players pay the price night after night blocking shots and taking hits to make plays for their team. The regular season is a gruelling test of a player’s physical and mental strength, and can wear down any athlete. A lot of bruises, bumps and broken bones can occur over an 82 game season. If a team is to make it to the playoffs, it takes another 16 victories to drink from Lord Stanley’s mug. The NHL playoffs are one of the fiercest competitions in professional sports, demanding physical sacrifices from every player in order to will their team to victory. The season, in its entirety, is difficult enough. Adding the pre season into the equation begins to test the limits of even the toughest of athletes, and what for? A small portion of players who take to the ice in the pre season are in a position to play their way on or off of a NHL roster. I cringe every time I see Roberto Luongo in the crease during the pre season, a franchise player of Luongo’s calibre shouldn’t be put into the net more than absolutely necessary during games that have no influence on the real season.

This pre-season has been rough for a couple teams as far as injuries and personnel are concerned. Players who had already solidified a spot on a roster long ago have been hurt by plays that are unnecessary during pre season play, regardless of their legality. Kyle Okposo played 65 games last year for the New York Islanders, he is seen as one of the Islanders leading young players, and wasn’t fighting for a spot on the roster this pre season. Unfortunately for Okposo, Dion Phaneuf doesn’t care about an opposing player’s situation, nor should he. Phaneuf plays a physical brand of hockey that can occasionally injure opposing players and he makes no apologies for that, again – nor should he. Okposo was caught with his head down, and was cleanly checked by Phaneuf, leaving the young Islander to be taken off the ice by a stretcher to recover from a Mild Concussion. The hit is vicious, but clean –I would applaud any player who makes that hit in the regular season, or playoffs. In the pre season, a hit of that magnitude is dangerous and unnecessary. I understand Phaneuf doesn’t want to change the way he plays, it affects your game and I get that. I remember being told by my mother to play a clean game anytime she came to watch my athletic events, and I hated it. It messed with my head, and I often had off games when I allowed her pre game speech to enter my mind. My teenage athletic events and Dion Phaneuf playing in the NHL are two totally different scenarios, but the same principle applies. If Brent Sutter whispered to Phaneuf on the bench to take it easy on the rookies in the pre season, his game would be completely shattered. It’s just the way he plays the game and that shouldn’t have to change. So why is the punishing defensemen playing in the pre season and why is Okposo? Both are going to be on their respective squads on opening night, what else do they need to prove?

The same can be asked about Jason Chimera, who is entering his seventh full NHL season and was not fighting for a spot on the Blue Jackets roster this year. Chimera was also wheeled off the ice on a stretcher in a pre season game against the Minnesota Wild on September 18^th. Chimera was checked into the boards face first by Eric Belanger, who didn’t believe the hit was dirty.

“I didn’t leave my feet, I didn’t hit his head…It’s just bad luck”

I have yet to see the hit so I cannot comment on its legality, but the reality is that any hit into the boards or in open ice can be dangerous. Clean or dirty, bad things just happen sometimes. I still don’t understand why Chimera needed to be playing, he’s been around the league long enough to know what the game is like, he shouldn’t need more than one pre season game to shake of the summer rust. So if a player gets hurt during the last pre season game, I file it under bad luck. A NHL player who is injured in an early pre season game having already solidified a spot on the roster is tragic and avoidable.

As of last night, Adam Burish has joined the list of unnecessary pre season injuries. Burish will be sidelined for an estimated six months due to surgery needed to repair a torn ACL he suffered during a pre season game Sunday against Minnesota. Burish is a major part of the heart and soul of the Blackhawks, which was evident after watching the Canucks vs. Blackhawks playoff series last spring. The Blackhawks are having a bad enough off season already, losing an important part of their team to an irrelevant pre season game is another blow to the organization. These players should all be healthy, watching games from the press box and anticipating a new regular season, instead they are left to try and remember the feeling of opening night, which they will be lucky to experience from the press box.

If I were Gary Bettman, (If I had 20 cents for every time I said that, I would have more money than Patrick Kane) I would completely re-tool the pre season.  I suggest the league follow the pre season game setup that International Soccer Teams follow: each team can book their own friendly exhibition games at their own discretion. If a team wants to save their players as best as possible, impose a minimum of two pre season games. If a team wants to make as much pre season money as they can showing off their prospects and players to their fans then that is their prerogative. Owners and NHL leadership are so worried about injuries in Olympic Training Camp and the Olympics themselves, why aren’t they worried about protecting their investments during the pre season?  Gary Bettman has been one of the advocates of taking NHL players out of the 2014 Olympics in order to take care of Owners’ investments; however the pre season is proving just as dangerous for the players. The only difference of course is the pre season generates revenue, while the NHL owners don’t see any profit from the Olympic break.

An altered pre season would of course need to be passed under a new collective bargaining agreement, but the current NHL pre season needs to be improved. Unfortunately change probably won’t be seen until a franchise player is seriously injured in the pre season, forcing the owners to think hard about the potential consequences of the pre season. If you were an NHL owner today, how do you feel about your stars playing in the pre season? Do you even care about pre season results, or are you strictly looking to evaluate talent in a real game scenario? To you Jackets, Islanders and ‘Hawks fans, how do you feel about your fallen players? Should they have been playing, or are their injuries bad luck and part of the game?