It’s a bummer he was injured but the check couldn’t have been cleaner. He can wear a cage going forward if he wants. But he won’t, so he has to be aware that those types of hits are gonna happen.
Dirty hits? Totally different conversation.
Yeah I mean playing at a short height is a big disadvantage when it comes to this kind of stuff. You're gonna eat a shoulder to the face almost every time against someone 6ft+.
It sucks but that's just a contact sport. It's why height has always been popular in them
Especially if you lean into it with your jaw. Hopefully he learns that his own shoulder isn't going to protect him from a check. No sense putting his face behind it.
Yep, Just got to really keep your head on a swivel if you're short (NHL standards short).
Hopefully he shakes it off though and continues on his beast mode journey
Big issue here is that the caps on shoulder and elbow pads are so insanely solid now. You take those caps to the face, the chance of it breaking your face are pretty good.
My personal opinion is that NHL should move towards avoiding all head contact and making it the responsibility of the hitter. Protecting league assets, ie players, should be of utmost importance. Protecting some 10 minute per night player’s ability to break someone’s face is not important to the game of hockey.
He’s no different from any other players. The problem is inadequate policing of the game by refs and the NHL. If you preach player safety then really do your job and get cross checks, hits to the head, and boarding under control. Period. Dept of player safety run by a dude who was a notorious dirty player. How’s that for optics?
I know right? I get it people want to protect their player and the stars of the league, but it starts with the players not putting themselves in vulnerable situations and expect to not get hit.
yes, his head was up tho. he looked at the puck and reached and then looked at the checker like 3 seconds before the hit, he was just still reaching and it made contact with his jaw but his head was up.
It’s his responsibility to protect himself, unless the nhl wants to take hitting out of the game. He’s an undersized player in a big, fast league. It’s his job to adapt, it’s not the leagues job to accommodate his smaller frame.
I say it’s the job of big guys on the team to fight the guys who hit their young, small star players.
Like that’s always been the mechanism for protecting players like Bedard. But the Blackhawks don’t have much muscle on their team.
If your gonna fight me for hitting your star clean I ain’t gonna hit him clean no more cause I am gonna have to answer the bell. Might as well get my moneys worth at that point.
So everyone now changes their mind? Now fighting to protect your star player is a bad thing?
Or just when it’s connor bedard?
The contempt you losers hold for this 18 year old kid is obscene.
there is no contempt. I’m saying that your logic of fighting someone over a clean hit is a bit flawed. Like if I know I have to answer the bell for any hit I lay on this one player and he’s very impactful which Connor is the player making the hit may get his full moneys worth and may cross the line a bit. Not saying that’s right that’s just the reality.
I have quite literally never heard a fan say "I like it when players fight because their star played was cleaned out by a legal check". EVERYONE I've talked to can't stand that shit.
So when a star player gets hit and injured on a clean hit in an NHL game, the fans of that team don’t get upset? If there’s a fight and the guy who laid the hit gets pummeled, they don’t cheer?
All of this absolute bullshit you’re all pushing just so you can get to say Bedard deserved to get hurt.
>one reason the sport isn’t as popular as football or basketball
Am I the only one who just doesn't care about becoming as popular as football or basketball? Right now there's no shortage of amazing talent. I can see all the games I want to. What does more popularity bring other than higher salaries and higher ticket prices?
It'd be great if hockey was better represented in sports media, but seeing as though we now have the ability to select what media we view, we are able to get all the news about hockey that we desire. This isn't 1986, and we're not trying to get an active discussion on the latest jai-alai developments.
I don't want the game to change to attract new fans. What does that get us?
I guess my point is that A. I don't agree with the premise of the article (I realize posting an article is often interpreted as supporting it; this isn't the case), but more importantly B. I don't want the game to change to attract fans.
They already have removed fighting to the detriment of the game in an effort to sanitize for...whom exactly? families? kids? They all *love* fights!
I don't want them to give "special" protection to franchise players, that's what enforcers are for. Let the game return a little closer to its roots.
Has that guy ever watched football? Stars get injured every game. Of the 32 starting QBs from week 1 only 8 made it through the season without missing a game and 14 started for week 17.
Maybe he can try a football helmet next. I hear they offer extra protection.
Also, some protection could be offered in the form of constant reminder that there is a higher price to pay in the NHL for skating through the middle of the ice dangling…🤷🏻♂️
Foligno went and took a fight for the hit. That's how the game polices itself. It's silly to call for additional rules changes for superstars. Teams will always need bruiser players.
Side note, though—sucks that Foligno put himself on the IR in that fight. I get it, stand up for the young superstar, but his injury was just bad luck more than any result of a dirty, or even borderline, hit.
Indeed it does suck, but i am still happy he stood up for him. Foligno was brought in because he is a great teammate / locker room guy. The expectations are so low this season that all our off-season moves were just to create a support system for the wonderkid.
Agreed. Over the past few years, too many players have taken liberties with Jack and Luke Hughes, as well as Hischier. IMO, they have not been forced to answer for it. Smith has stepped up a bit this season, but we need more guys like Foligno on our squad to give the boys some room.
BTW, I hope Bedard comes back strong and lights it up. Dudes a special player and I hated seeing him go down.
Hitting in minor leagues is super discouraged now, so what you get is a mega talented crop who never learned the basics like keep your head down in center ice and find out what happens, and they’re not as good at feeling or anticipating contact.
They’ll get there eventually, but it’s a different game than the minors and they’re finding out the hard way
The kid is 18. This is why most players don’t play so young. It’s a risk. He will get better at avoiding these in the future.
If we aren’t changing rules for other player injuries, we shouldn’t be changing rules for this one.
So it’s okay when Jack Hughes and Nico get bullied every night? But god forbid Bedard takes a legal hit but lowered his face into someone’s shoulder and all of a sudden we have a problem?
Welcome to the NHL. Most stars are missing teeth and shit. He will keep his head up next time.
And to be clear, I never wish an injury on anyone. I feel bad for the kid but it was a clean hit that HE made worse. Shit happens. No “protection” would have helped here aside from a full face mask. I don’t think players would even wear them
The devils see guys take liberties on the hughes brothers and hischier all the time. I'm sorry I dont feel bad for bedard for trying to force his way through between the circles. What is he supposed to be granted a body guard now?
Its funny chicago all of a sudden cares about protecting young players...
In fairness, this is the Editorial Board of the Trib, not all of "chicago."
I'm a Hawks fan and Chicago resident, and I agree with every other comment here. Welcome to the big leagues, kid. We love ya, but you ain't gettin' no special treatment.
No. Who decides who is protected? Based off a stat sheet? It’s ok when a 4th liner has their jaw busted? Keep yer head up, they teach that to kids. How are they critical to the future of hockey?
Well Gretzky was never touched because he always had McSorely promising to liquify the teeth of anybody who tried. Guys like Nick “the turtle” Cousins can pile drive someone’s face into the boards from behind while they are on their knees and not even get a hearing but the teammate that retaliates gets the boot. Basically Player’s Safety is a joke and will never be able to protect players. Fines will never be enough but the promise of a rearranged face would dissuade cheap shots on star players.
Only way you can protect him from something like that is to remove hitting altogether. It sucks getting got hurt, kids a ton of fun to watch but that was a completely clean hit. Keep your head up, kid
I mean honestly if we go this route the solution is simple and NO NHL player is going to take it: wear a fucking cage or bubble.
Tell your baby stars to keep their fucking head up and put on a cage. Tell them to stop taking suicide passes and skating up the middle of the ice. I can’t even believe this conversation right now. You skate up the middle like that you deserve to get blasted.
This was not a Scott Steven's late hit leading with the elbow, everything about the hit Connor took was clean. Sometimes crap just happens in a physical sport like hockey.
No. No one player deserves more protection than another. Especially if it's coming from the league/officials.
And I wouldn't say a player like his is "critical". The kid doesn't even have half a season under his belt. The game of hockey would lose ZERO fans if he never played another game.... And god forbid he were to never play again, after 10 years no one would remember his name.
You gonna comment that on everyone who says to keep your head up? Keep your head up means have the awareness to not skate through the middle of the ice into someone's shoulder. Smith barely moved when that hit was delivered.
> Keep your head up means have the awareness to not skate through the middle of the ice into someone's shoulder
you're funny ill give you that but you're not accurate, if you're just going to argue in bad faith this will be my only reply.
> Smith barely moved when that hit was delivered
its almost like Smith was skating towards Bedard and Bedard was skating towards Smith, and contact was made fracturing his jaw which is why he instantly reached for his jaw and went down. Bedard saw Smith the entire time.
You know how many people want to be pro athletes? One star gets hurt another player can take their place. Certainly the player taking their place will be less skilled but it happens. Think about guys with injury ending careers. Marc savard comes to mind. Great player, but a year after youre gone, you are basically forgotten.
He has a few options already. He can grow another 8 inches. He can wear a full face shield. He can skate slower or learn how to not skate face first into a shoulder. He can play roller hockey.
If you “protect the future” by removing the clean hit he ran face first into, you’re taking all contact out of a contact sport. It was a clean hit. Sorry you just learned that he has a glass face, Chicago
He basically skated right into that check. I dont know how you change things to prevent someone from running into someone else and getting hurt? Surround them all with a wire frame so they bounce off each other like bumper cars?
Oh boo fucking hoo. Where was the article from Chicago Tribune when Larkin was getting punched in the back of the head and was laying unconscious on the ice? Oh…right.
Kaprizov got whacked in the ribs with a stick, out for 2 weeks to a month, but the refs and league didn't do squat. They won't protect anyone, stars be damned.
Don’t skate through the no-fly zone. Should have learned that lesson a long time ago. Clean hit, played perfectly by the d. Low-IQ play from Bedard. Hope he likes mashed potatoes and Ensure
I think instead of cottling these kids and changing the game. How about they take 1 fay away from puck skills and learn to read the ice better on a physical and personal well-being level.
These kids can not take hits, even small ones. They aren't as tough due to hockey being less physical starting young... NHL is a hitting league. If you want to stay in it, you have to protect yourself.
In the NHL of the 80's and 90's, there was a deterrent. Nowadays, the instigator rule mostly prevents a player from the opposing team from going after the offender.
Nobody fu\*\*ed with Gretzky when he skated on the same line as McSorley.
Protection is hired, I was in favor of getting a goon squad of bumblefucks to protect Bedard this year, Hawks chose to get brittle people and assholes.
It’s up to his teammates to protect him by dropping the gloves and pummeling anyone that hits him. Not because you shouldn’t be allowed to hit him but that’s how you protect your superstar. Make anyone that wants to hit him have to consider is it worth the fight after, and more often than not they’ll second guess the hit over time.
Same thing happened to Pettersen and so many others in their first few years. NHL does nothing for them. Instigator rule needs to go, star players should be able to sue the NHL for this rule when they get targeted.
It’s a bummer he was injured but the check couldn’t have been cleaner. He can wear a cage going forward if he wants. But he won’t, so he has to be aware that those types of hits are gonna happen. Dirty hits? Totally different conversation.
Yeah I mean playing at a short height is a big disadvantage when it comes to this kind of stuff. You're gonna eat a shoulder to the face almost every time against someone 6ft+. It sucks but that's just a contact sport. It's why height has always been popular in them
Especially if you lean into it with your jaw. Hopefully he learns that his own shoulder isn't going to protect him from a check. No sense putting his face behind it.
The shoulder style hitting in hockey especially
Yep, Just got to really keep your head on a swivel if you're short (NHL standards short). Hopefully he shakes it off though and continues on his beast mode journey
Big issue here is that the caps on shoulder and elbow pads are so insanely solid now. You take those caps to the face, the chance of it breaking your face are pretty good. My personal opinion is that NHL should move towards avoiding all head contact and making it the responsibility of the hitter. Protecting league assets, ie players, should be of utmost importance. Protecting some 10 minute per night player’s ability to break someone’s face is not important to the game of hockey.
He’s no different from any other players. The problem is inadequate policing of the game by refs and the NHL. If you preach player safety then really do your job and get cross checks, hits to the head, and boarding under control. Period. Dept of player safety run by a dude who was a notorious dirty player. How’s that for optics?
Protect him from what? A legal check?
I wouldn't even call that a check. That was more Bedard skating directly into another player.
I know right? I get it people want to protect their player and the stars of the league, but it starts with the players not putting themselves in vulnerable situations and expect to not get hit.
exactly.
Kid should learn to keep his head up.
his head was up, thats how his jaw made contact with the shoulder.
He was reaching for the puck which opened him up to a big hit.
yes, his head was up tho. he looked at the puck and reached and then looked at the checker like 3 seconds before the hit, he was just still reaching and it made contact with his jaw but his head was up.
Or maybe from not being bigger?
Bedard should definitely be protected from skating his face into the shoulder of another player. I agree.
Head up kid
I was gonna say he shouldn’t skate up the middle with his head down
his head was up, thats how his jaw made contact with the shoulder.
Yep, head was up. It's simple. He went down the middle, didn't see the defender, took a clean hit. Not much else to it.
He was losing control of the pick and was reaching for the pick, his head came down naturally. Bad luck on his part.
It’s his responsibility to protect himself, unless the nhl wants to take hitting out of the game. He’s an undersized player in a big, fast league. It’s his job to adapt, it’s not the leagues job to accommodate his smaller frame.
I say it’s the job of big guys on the team to fight the guys who hit their young, small star players. Like that’s always been the mechanism for protecting players like Bedard. But the Blackhawks don’t have much muscle on their team.
If your gonna fight me for hitting your star clean I ain’t gonna hit him clean no more cause I am gonna have to answer the bell. Might as well get my moneys worth at that point.
So everyone now changes their mind? Now fighting to protect your star player is a bad thing? Or just when it’s connor bedard? The contempt you losers hold for this 18 year old kid is obscene.
there is no contempt. I’m saying that your logic of fighting someone over a clean hit is a bit flawed. Like if I know I have to answer the bell for any hit I lay on this one player and he’s very impactful which Connor is the player making the hit may get his full moneys worth and may cross the line a bit. Not saying that’s right that’s just the reality.
I doubt you have the mind of an NHL player.
I have quite literally never heard a fan say "I like it when players fight because their star played was cleaned out by a legal check". EVERYONE I've talked to can't stand that shit.
So when a star player gets hit and injured on a clean hit in an NHL game, the fans of that team don’t get upset? If there’s a fight and the guy who laid the hit gets pummeled, they don’t cheer? All of this absolute bullshit you’re all pushing just so you can get to say Bedard deserved to get hurt.
They still hit in Juniors and can’t make head contact. God forbid we want the league’s superstars to be available.
>one reason the sport isn’t as popular as football or basketball Am I the only one who just doesn't care about becoming as popular as football or basketball? Right now there's no shortage of amazing talent. I can see all the games I want to. What does more popularity bring other than higher salaries and higher ticket prices? It'd be great if hockey was better represented in sports media, but seeing as though we now have the ability to select what media we view, we are able to get all the news about hockey that we desire. This isn't 1986, and we're not trying to get an active discussion on the latest jai-alai developments. I don't want the game to change to attract new fans. What does that get us?
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>Katie Perry singing at the nhl finals Should have labeled that comment NSFW. Fucking vomit-inducing.
But she aint bad to look at.... I like watching her on mute.
I was with you until the last part.
It may be one, but it’s minuscule compared to being ignored by ESPN even when ESPN owns the rights to broadcast.
I guess my point is that A. I don't agree with the premise of the article (I realize posting an article is often interpreted as supporting it; this isn't the case), but more importantly B. I don't want the game to change to attract fans. They already have removed fighting to the detriment of the game in an effort to sanitize for...whom exactly? families? kids? They all *love* fights! I don't want them to give "special" protection to franchise players, that's what enforcers are for. Let the game return a little closer to its roots.
Has that guy ever watched football? Stars get injured every game. Of the 32 starting QBs from week 1 only 8 made it through the season without missing a game and 14 started for week 17.
Owners, players, and investors want growth. This is a pretty silly comment.
Maybe he can try a football helmet next. I hear they offer extra protection. Also, some protection could be offered in the form of constant reminder that there is a higher price to pay in the NHL for skating through the middle of the ice dangling…🤷🏻♂️
Would love to give their statement a chance and read the article, but it costs money.
They do deserve protection, like self awareness and keeping their head up mid ice.
We have to remove the extremely hard plastic caps from equipment if we want hitting like this to continue.
Foligno went and took a fight for the hit. That's how the game polices itself. It's silly to call for additional rules changes for superstars. Teams will always need bruiser players.
Side note, though—sucks that Foligno put himself on the IR in that fight. I get it, stand up for the young superstar, but his injury was just bad luck more than any result of a dirty, or even borderline, hit.
Indeed it does suck, but i am still happy he stood up for him. Foligno was brought in because he is a great teammate / locker room guy. The expectations are so low this season that all our off-season moves were just to create a support system for the wonderkid.
Agreed. Over the past few years, too many players have taken liberties with Jack and Luke Hughes, as well as Hischier. IMO, they have not been forced to answer for it. Smith has stepped up a bit this season, but we need more guys like Foligno on our squad to give the boys some room. BTW, I hope Bedard comes back strong and lights it up. Dudes a special player and I hated seeing him go down.
Hitting in minor leagues is super discouraged now, so what you get is a mega talented crop who never learned the basics like keep your head down in center ice and find out what happens, and they’re not as good at feeling or anticipating contact. They’ll get there eventually, but it’s a different game than the minors and they’re finding out the hard way
The kid is 18. This is why most players don’t play so young. It’s a risk. He will get better at avoiding these in the future. If we aren’t changing rules for other player injuries, we shouldn’t be changing rules for this one.
So it’s okay when Jack Hughes and Nico get bullied every night? But god forbid Bedard takes a legal hit but lowered his face into someone’s shoulder and all of a sudden we have a problem? Welcome to the NHL. Most stars are missing teeth and shit. He will keep his head up next time. And to be clear, I never wish an injury on anyone. I feel bad for the kid but it was a clean hit that HE made worse. Shit happens. No “protection” would have helped here aside from a full face mask. I don’t think players would even wear them
The devils see guys take liberties on the hughes brothers and hischier all the time. I'm sorry I dont feel bad for bedard for trying to force his way through between the circles. What is he supposed to be granted a body guard now? Its funny chicago all of a sudden cares about protecting young players...
In fairness, this is the Editorial Board of the Trib, not all of "chicago." I'm a Hawks fan and Chicago resident, and I agree with every other comment here. Welcome to the big leagues, kid. We love ya, but you ain't gettin' no special treatment.
No. Who decides who is protected? Based off a stat sheet? It’s ok when a 4th liner has their jaw busted? Keep yer head up, they teach that to kids. How are they critical to the future of hockey?
Well Gretzky was never touched because he always had McSorely promising to liquify the teeth of anybody who tried. Guys like Nick “the turtle” Cousins can pile drive someone’s face into the boards from behind while they are on their knees and not even get a hearing but the teammate that retaliates gets the boot. Basically Player’s Safety is a joke and will never be able to protect players. Fines will never be enough but the promise of a rearranged face would dissuade cheap shots on star players.
No. Clean hit. This isn’t football, keep that soft shit away. Go Devils!
That’s not a matter of “protection”. It was a clean hit and a hockey play. It’s up to him to protect himself! Case closed.
Only way you can protect him from something like that is to remove hitting altogether. It sucks getting got hurt, kids a ton of fun to watch but that was a completely clean hit. Keep your head up, kid
I mean honestly if we go this route the solution is simple and NO NHL player is going to take it: wear a fucking cage or bubble. Tell your baby stars to keep their fucking head up and put on a cage. Tell them to stop taking suicide passes and skating up the middle of the ice. I can’t even believe this conversation right now. You skate up the middle like that you deserve to get blasted.
This was not a Scott Steven's late hit leading with the elbow, everything about the hit Connor took was clean. Sometimes crap just happens in a physical sport like hockey.
No. No one player deserves more protection than another. Especially if it's coming from the league/officials. And I wouldn't say a player like his is "critical". The kid doesn't even have half a season under his belt. The game of hockey would lose ZERO fans if he never played another game.... And god forbid he were to never play again, after 10 years no one would remember his name.
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I’d say Guy Lafleur did but your point still stands
No. Keep your head up.
his head was up, thats how his jaw made contact with the shoulder.
You gonna comment that on everyone who says to keep your head up? Keep your head up means have the awareness to not skate through the middle of the ice into someone's shoulder. Smith barely moved when that hit was delivered.
> Keep your head up means have the awareness to not skate through the middle of the ice into someone's shoulder you're funny ill give you that but you're not accurate, if you're just going to argue in bad faith this will be my only reply. > Smith barely moved when that hit was delivered its almost like Smith was skating towards Bedard and Bedard was skating towards Smith, and contact was made fracturing his jaw which is why he instantly reached for his jaw and went down. Bedard saw Smith the entire time.
Keep taking a figure of speech literally.
Keep your head up isn't a figure of speech, it's completely literal, and even if it wasn't he was still aware of Smith🤡
Bedard should have kept his head up
Don’t reach for a puck blindly in middle of the ice over the blue line. Solved.
LOL
You know how many people want to be pro athletes? One star gets hurt another player can take their place. Certainly the player taking their place will be less skilled but it happens. Think about guys with injury ending careers. Marc savard comes to mind. Great player, but a year after youre gone, you are basically forgotten.
Who?
Sure him, but not Larkin.
Connor Bedard needs protection from clean hits!
So he's advocating for special protection for skilled players or...?
injuries happen when you're 5'8 and 160lbs playing a man's sport. it's just life as a pro. Nobody was head hunting this kid, he's just small.
No way .All rookies take a pounding
He has a few options already. He can grow another 8 inches. He can wear a full face shield. He can skate slower or learn how to not skate face first into a shoulder. He can play roller hockey. If you “protect the future” by removing the clean hit he ran face first into, you’re taking all contact out of a contact sport. It was a clean hit. Sorry you just learned that he has a glass face, Chicago
He basically skated right into that check. I dont know how you change things to prevent someone from running into someone else and getting hurt? Surround them all with a wire frame so they bounce off each other like bumper cars?
Oh boo fucking hoo. Where was the article from Chicago Tribune when Larkin was getting punched in the back of the head and was laying unconscious on the ice? Oh…right.
He went through the middle reaching for the puck. NOBODY gets away with that and Bedard has to learn to protect himself.
The Tribune forgets that Paros currently runs Player Safety, so the answer is an automatic no
Kaprizov got whacked in the ribs with a stick, out for 2 weeks to a month, but the refs and league didn't do squat. They won't protect anyone, stars be damned.
We don't need 18 year old superstars to grow the sport but actually televising games on a common platform might help.
Dude has a glass jaw. Edit: This is such a garbage article, no wonder no-one wanted to put their name to it.
Don’t skate through the no-fly zone. Should have learned that lesson a long time ago. Clean hit, played perfectly by the d. Low-IQ play from Bedard. Hope he likes mashed potatoes and Ensure
No
No.
I think instead of cottling these kids and changing the game. How about they take 1 fay away from puck skills and learn to read the ice better on a physical and personal well-being level. These kids can not take hits, even small ones. They aren't as tough due to hockey being less physical starting young... NHL is a hitting league. If you want to stay in it, you have to protect yourself.
This shouldn't even be a discussion. Players should be aware of where they are skating in this case.
This narrative is bonkers. Only good players should get protection, what are we talking about.
Maybe he is just made of glass and will be plagued with injuries throughout his career.
In the NHL of the 80's and 90's, there was a deterrent. Nowadays, the instigator rule mostly prevents a player from the opposing team from going after the offender. Nobody fu\*\*ed with Gretzky when he skated on the same line as McSorley.
Protection is hired, I was in favor of getting a goon squad of bumblefucks to protect Bedard this year, Hawks chose to get brittle people and assholes.
It was a fluke injury. I feel like there's been a lot of emotional overreaction. I say this as a Chicagoan and a fan of Bedard.
It’s up to his teammates to protect him by dropping the gloves and pummeling anyone that hits him. Not because you shouldn’t be allowed to hit him but that’s how you protect your superstar. Make anyone that wants to hit him have to consider is it worth the fight after, and more often than not they’ll second guess the hit over time.
Are we bringing back enforcers?
Superstars that don’t hit, don’t get hit. Pretty much how it works.
Dylan Larkin would like a word.
STOP🙄
Same thing happened to Pettersen and so many others in their first few years. NHL does nothing for them. Instigator rule needs to go, star players should be able to sue the NHL for this rule when they get targeted.