When New York Rangers‘ captain Jacob Trouba lined up Montreal Canadiens’ defenseman Justin Barron for a hit, everyone knew trouble was coming for the Hab. As expected, Trouba didn’t miss; he rarely does, and when he collided with Barron, the 22-year-old Nova Scotian’s head snapped back before he fell to the ice like a ton of brick.
Of course, when he did, his head hit the ice, and you could see he wasn’t there anymore. He didn’t lose consciousness, but that empty look never lies; it’s a telltale sign of a concussion, one we’ve come to see all too often.
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In a flash, a whole fanbase was up in arms, calling for Trouba’s head, and I’ll admit the reaction in the Bell Centre’s press gallery was pretty similar. Journalistic integrity aside, we’re all human beings, and seeing someone you watch play night after night be hit and fall like that will always create an emotional reaction.
This morning, ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski posted on his X account that no supplemental discipline was expected against Trouba, sending social media into a frenzy. As much as I hated the look of that hit, it’s Rule 48 of the NHL Rulebook, which sanctions hits to the head, and it reads as follows:
As bad as the hit looked, according to Rule 48 as it is written, it wasn’t an illegal hit to the head. If a hit’s primary point of contact is the head, but the contact is deemed unavoidable, there will be no sanction. What do you look at to know if the hit was unavoidable?
Whether the head was targeted, if the player (or victim of the hit) put themselves in a vulnerable position, and if the victim changed their position too late for the player in the process of hitting them to alter their course of action.
Related: Canadiens Defenseman Departs Game After Questionable Hit From Trouba
In other words, did the player have it coming? In my opinion, this is a rather concerning way to draft rules. The classic blaming-the-victim culture that is still all too often done in our society.
If a woman is sexually assaulted, there will always be someone to ask, “What was she wearing?”… If your car gets broken into and your phone is stolen, there will always be someone to say, “You shouldn’t have left your phone in there” of course, the reply there always is “Well thank you, captain, obvious, but I forgot it there.”
In both cases, does the victim’s behaviour make it any more legal for the perpetrator to act as they did? No, it does not. Why, then, should it be different in a contact sport? Because former goon Paul Bissonnette loves it and glorifies the “Trouba Train”? Do we let criminals draft laws? No, we do not. Should we let goons be in charge of defining what should or should not be penalized? No, we should not. Nor should we let one run the Department of Player Safety, but that’s a topic for another day.
I mean, think about it: when a player’s stick hits someone in the face, they are called for high sticking. Does it matter if the player put himself in that position by skating into the stick? No, it does not because the players must be responsible for their stick. Why? Because a stick can cause serious damage. What happens if you catch a stick to the eye? You can lose your eye, remember David-Alexandre Beauregard? A high stick by Xavier Delisle in the QMJHL cost him his eye in 1994.
Newsflash: A body can also cause serious damage. Hits to the head should be eradicated, just like the obstruction of the dead puck era was. As Ken Dryden so eloquently put it to me last night, a “wonky brain” is life-changing, and players need to be protected.
Related: Former Canadiens Dryden On Head Injuries And The Preseason
No, I’m not preaching for a contactless game, but I am preaching for one that protects its top athletes. I’m sorry, but I would have preferred Paul Kariya to play many more games in the NHL rather than see people get excited when they watch the replay of Scott Stevens ending his career or that of Eric Lindros, for that matter.
Players are getting bigger, faster, and stronger, but the brain isn’t evolving; it’s not becoming stronger. If someone wants to see debilitating injuries, they should go watch the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where the aim of the match is pretty much to hurt the opponent. That is not the aim of a hockey game; the aim of the game is to score more goals than the opponent. Last night, both coaches elected not to play their pugilist.
Related: Canadiens: Champions’ Night Before Big Defeat
Until the league realizes just how dangerous hits to the head are and rewrites Rule 48, Trouba will keep going on his merry way, leaving a trail of injuries behind him. But hey, it doesn’t matter, right? It’s entertaining…or is it?
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