There have been moments in which people have questioned the consequences of just how much of a physical sport hockey truly is. Those concerns have recently been made more prominent due to recent events that have occurred throughout the hockey world.  

The NHL has heard concerns being voiced not only by fans but also by players themselves. NHL general managers had a meeting in Toronto on November 14th, one of the main topics talked about was that of encouraging players to wear more gear that is cut-resistant. As of right now it is not mandatory for players in the NHL to wear cut-resistant equipment, but that has not stopped other leagues from making the use of said gear a requirement and even some players implementing it to their gear before they hit the ice. 

If the NHL were to make cut -resistant gear mandatory, they would not only have to get the approval from the NHL Player’s Association but they also have to see how players respond to said requirement. Before the current focus on cut-resistant gear, the NHL did in fact have such gear as options for players to wear if they wanted to. Most did not use cut-resistant gear as for one they did not like how hot it made them having an added layer on them, but also disliked how implementing cut-resistant gear on top of other gear added more weight on them, inadvertently affecting their speed. 

Currently it is said that there have been more advances on the quality of cut-resistant gear, meaning that certain things such as the ones previously mentioned have been worked on and hopefully have made the cut-resistant gear much more comfortable for players to wear.

The implementation of more protective gear would take some getting used to for players, but if it would help keep players a bit safer when on the ice is the possibility of using said gear being a requirement truly an issue?