During the tilt between the Tampa Bay Lightning and The Washington Capitals, a Mike Green slap shot shattered Nate Thompson’s visor into pieces. While it cut him open “hardway”, with minor lacerations, One can only imagine how worse this would have been had he not have been wearing a visor. Looking at the proximaty of the shot, and the force behind it, Nate Thompson is a lucky man. Without said visor, he might have lost an eye and/or suffered an concussion.
It’s reasons like this that the “visor issue” is a hot topic in the NHL. I understand that the athletes want to appear tough. But if I was an owner, I’d want my GM to protect my investment by enforcing necessary safety regulations on players. I hate likening the players to cattle, since the the recent lockout is still a very sore topic to allude to… but… a rancher builds a fence and invests in a shot gun to prevent the herd being lost to predators. Why on Earth would an owner not want to prevent paying out massive contracts to I.R. players that take unnecessary risks? Seems dumb to me. But I’m just a fan, so what the hell do I know?
Washington would go on to win the game 6 – 5 in OT.
