Maybe The NHL Should Change The Rule That if a Player is Hurt, you Know, Blow The Whistle

This is honestly terrible pic.twitter.com/WUXN79tawo

— DNVR Avalanche (@DNVR_Avalanche) November 17, 2019

Last night we had a scary situation in the Colorado Vancouver game when forward Matt Calvert took a shot to the head and remained on the ice until Vancouver scored. According to the rulebook,

When a player is injured so that he cannot continue to play or go to his bench, the play shall not be stopped until the injured player’s team has secured control of the puck. If the player’s team is in control of the puck at the time of injury, play shall be stopped immediately unless his team is in a scoring position.

Okay, so that should be changed. It sucks that Vancouver also scored but the fact of the matter is that this was an incredibly dangerous situation in which trainers should be able to rush onto the ice ASAP if something like this happens. I’m not a doctor but when you take a shot to the side of the head, I’m thinking time might be of the essence. The entire Avalanche team was pissed off and rightfully so.

Erik Johnson on the Matt Calvert incident: “It’s a fucking joke. You want to protect a guy? Guy’s got a family at home, he’s laying there bleeding out of his head and you don’t blow the whistle? It’s a complete joke. An absolute joke. They should be ashamed of themselves.” #Avs

— Ryan S. Clark (@ryan_s_clark) November 17, 2019

Nathan MacKinnon on the NHL rule that allowed play to continue while teammate Matt Calvert was laying down on the ice bleeding pic.twitter.com/bwXttX2Vh2

— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) November 17, 2019

So the ball is in your court NHL. You claim to be alllll about player safety, it’s time to show if you really mean it.