There are mandates to wear cut-resistant equipment on the neck, wrists and Achilles tendons in the AHL and ECHL. Pasma said junior leagues in the United States and Canada as well as USA Hockey and Hockey Canada all have some mandates for the equipment.
However, the NHL does not have any mandates on the usage of cut-resistant equipment, but the hope is that further education will lead to more and more players taking advantage of what is available to them and what could be available down the road.
That is already happening, largely in the wake of the on-ice death of former NHL player Adam Johnson during an Elite Ice Hockey League game in England on Oct. 28, 2023, but Fitzgerald doesn’t think enough players are utilizing the protection available.
“I spoke at the 4 Nations (Face-Off) on a cut-resistant committee call and I basically poured my heart into the fact that no parent should have to watch their son play the sport they love knowing it’s dangerous but not realizing that that could happen to them,” Fitzgerald said. “I said if the players realized how passionate their parents are watching them play and had to watch this and look at this maybe they’d think differently. Maybe they would think of their parents or their loved ones or their kids, their wife and say, ‘I could do more to protect myself long term.’ If more players understand that there is equipment out there that can protect you, why not take advantage of it? Your career is this short, the rest of your life is a lifetime.”
There could be more cut-resistant options coming for players.
As a result of Casey Fitzgerald’s injury and the realization that the neck guard did not offer him protection from the cut, Pasma said he went to two equipment manufacturers that the NHL works with to see if they can design a Kevlar chin strap. Prototypes are in the works.
The chin strap will be wider than normal. It will still hang low, not pressed against the neck, but could offer some type of protection against the kind of cut Casey Fitzgerald experienced.
“I don’t know that it would have prevented the cut, but it might have minimized it or taken off the brunt of it,” Pasma said.
Pasma also said NHL players have had some cuts through the tops of their skates, so he is also talking to equipment manufacturers about cut-resistant skate laces. There are some prototypes already available.
“If you give them options (to not wear protection), they’re going to take it,” Fitzgerald said. “They’re going to say, ‘I haven’t worn it my whole life so I’m not going to wear it now,’ so don’t give them options. We can’t do that because that’s a collective bargaining issue, but we can show them real-life examples.”
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