Shanaban...concussions down by more than half compared to the same time last season

[Fitzpatrick'sbeard]

TORONTO—Brendan Shanahan, in his first year as the NHL’s senior vice president of player safety and hockey operations, had good news to reveal at the meeting of the league’s general managers on Tuesday: concussions in the league are down by more than half compared to the same time last season.

Buffalo Sabres GM Darcy Regier was the point man for Tuesday’s discussion about protecting goaltenders.

“I’m satisfied today, yes,” Regier said after the meetings at a Toronto
hotel, where GMs also discussed realignment and reviewed other aspects of
Shanahan's first few months on the job. “I think that one of the things we have
to monitor as a group is, when you consider how tough it is to score goals, and
how teams collapse to the front of the net, and you’re trying to get pucks
through to the front of the net, there’s a lot of pressure, a lot of congestion
there, and that gets—that really goes to the goaltenders, and they’re focused on
the puck. They have a right to make the save, and I think we’ve got to ensure
they’re protected while they’re doing their work.”














Regier has also publicly compared goaltenders to quarterbacks, a sentiment
that Stanley Cup-winning backstop Mike Richter echoed with Sporting News on
Monday night.














“You’re out playing the puck, and of course (Miller is) out of his crease,
but goaltenders, like quarterbacks, are in a very vulnerable position,” said
Richter, whose career ended in 2003 after he suffered concussions eight months
apart. “There’s rules in place to protect those guys. Ryan Miller’s one of the
best players in the world, and you don’t want to see him lost in a collision
like that. ... I know it’s sometimes a double standard where goalies can whack
and hit and all that stuff with some impunity, but that’s a vulnerable position
and you’ve got to protect the guy.”

Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nhl/stor...#ixzz1dpBInGoc