Modano and Skate Cuts in Hockey.

Modano undergoes surgery to repair injury on right wrist

Mike Modano has undergone surgery after suffering a laceration from a skate blade on his right wrist during a game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night. The veteran will be out of the lineup indefinitely depending on the progress of his recovery.

This is a sad situation, and probably ends his career. It’s not the way Modano wanted to leave the game, and not the way he deserved to go.

But what really worries me is the increasing incidence of skate cuts in hockey. When Clint Malarchuk almost died 20 some years ago, it was horrific not just because of the cut, but because of how rare skate cuts were in the game.

Even five years ago, skate cuts were fairly rare. The last couple of seasons, however, have seen multiple cuts each season, some of them quite serious. Achilles tendons severed, significant cuts to the quads — this seems to be a growing problem in the NHL and one that NHL has a chance to grapple with before it becomes a crisis.

What isn’t well known is that this is the second skate cut on an arm this season. The Sharks Jason Demers is currently on injured reserve, and while the Sharks have been typically quiet about the cause (all we know is “day to day”, not even which body half), the incident happened in front of us at the game in a scrum around the crease, and Demers immediately skated off holding his arm near the glove cuff — it looked to me like a skate blade came up and nicked him in the same general area that Modano was cut. Fortunately, though, the damage seems much less serious to Demers.

Why is this happening? I’ve thought about this a while, and I think I understand what’s going on. Players are now big enough, fast enough and strong enough that hits are becoming violent enough that they no longer are able to control what happens when they get hit — so body parts flail and legs are starting to kick up more frequently, with those razor sharp blades on the end.

This implies that this isn’t a situation calling for rule changes or a fix to enforcement, but we need to improve safety equipment.  More and more players are wearing kevlar sleeves in the socks, which prevents the blade from penetrating the flesh. Many levels of amateur hockey are requiring similar protection for the neck.

My hope is that the NHL sees this as the problem it’s becoming and the union doesn’t get stupid about making this a “personal choice” issue they way they’ve fought visors, and that the league starts mandating kevlar protective sleeves on the legs and arms. I’d love to see manufacturers look into whether this protection can we woven into hockey pants to protect the quads and hamstrings.

This really shouldn’t be a hassle for players or a controvesial safety call (but I bet it will be) — I’ve seen no sign that players adopting these leg sleeves have complained about it impacting their performance the way they kvetch about visors. And since we seem to be up to 4-6 incidents a year causing an injury that causes a player to lose at least one game — it’s in the league’s best interest to get on this before someone gets their career terminated or they die from a cut to a sensitive location.

(and for what it’s worth, I’m in favor of the league making neck protection encouraged but optional — injuries to that location are exceptionally rare (twice in 25 years), but when they happen, they’re catastrophic, but the hockey players I’ve talked to that use those protectors invariably hate them as uncomfortable. Perhaps this is another place manufacturers and research, but as nasty as Malarchuk’s injury was, I’m more worried about the more common skate cuts we’re seeing on arms and legs and protecting players from those — unless you’re a goalie, and if you are, I hope you’re smart enough to already be wearing throat protection….

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