Adam Johnson’s death makes ice hockey face up to game’s dangers

Adam Johnson’s tragic death during an English Ice Hockey Association game last weekend in Sheffield has created reverberations across the hockey world and, unlike previous incidents, may finally prove the catalyst for widespread change when it comes to protective equipment.

The Nottingham Panthers player died after sustaining a throat laceration during the second period in a Challenge Cup game against the Sheffield Steelers. The incident, which has been described by the Panthers club and others around the hockey world as a “freak accident”, is indeed a rare occurrence on the ice, despite the sport’s speed, physical contact and players’ razor-sharp skate blades. But it’s not the first of its kind.

Last year Teddy Balkind, a high school ice hockey player in Connecticut, suffered a cut to the throat during a game and died of his injuries. That incident, like Johnson’s death, briefly prompted questions about mandating the use of neck guards – a Velcro-clasped foam sleeve that sits around the neck or a protective collar attached to a player’s base layer shirt – in American hockey. But nothing came of it.

USA Hockey still only “recommends” that players wear neck guards, and actual requirements vary by region. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) also does not mandate neck guards. In Canada, the historical home of ice hockey, all under-16 players are required to wear neck guards no matter where they play. However, if players reach the major junior level – a step before going professional – the regulations again depend on the league. While major junior leagues in Ontario and Quebec mandate neck guards, the Western Hockey League, which covers western Canada and includes two US States, does not.

As for the men’s pro leagues, forget it. The National Hockey League (NHL), home of the world’s most elite professional ice hockey, for instance, has never mandated players to wear neck protectors. But accidents happen there too. In 1989 the Buffalo Sabres goaltender Clint Malarchuk had his throat slashed by a skate during a game against the St Louis Blues after two players crashed his net. He received 300 stitches but returned to the ice within two weeks.

In 2008 Richard Zednik’s throat was accidentally cut by his own teammate’s errant skate during a game between the Florida Panthers and the Sabres. Zednik recovered, but missed the remainder of the season. In all that time, only two NHL players wore neck coverings of any kind. One was Tomas Plekanec, whose turtleneck earned him ridicule. The other was Wayne Gretzky.

By and large, the NHL and its players have been notoriously slow to adopt safety measures. They eschewed goalie masks for decades, gradually wore helmets only after a 1979 mandate was imposed, and glacially adopted (and began abiding by) stricter rules for dangerous hits like those to the head.

This resistance to safety lies partly in the NHL’s history and mindset, which is representative of a broader mentality in the sport, especially in North America. It is proud of the danger inherent in the game. Many of ice hockey’s most renowned players are vaunted for their grit as much as for their goals. Gordie Howe, the NHL’s most prolific scorer before Gretzky, gave the sport what’s still known as a “Gordie Howe hat-trick” – a goal, an assist and a fight.

Hockey equipment has still progressed. In recent years, undershirts with cut-resistant wrist areas, blade-stopping socks, and compression pants that extend protection over the achilles tendon have become more popular among players at all levels, including the NHL, which has also seen incidents of lacerations of those vital body parts. Yet, even as players have carried this updated gear into the pro leagues, they abandon neck guards as soon as they can. In 2020, Detroit Red Wings’ then-prospect Moritz Seider was playing in Sweden when a neck guard saved him from a potentially horrific skate laceration. Three years later, the dynamic NHL defenceman goes without one – for now.

In the days since Johnson’s death, a collective rethinking on neck protection in the pro leagues has begun. On Monday, the English Ice Hockey Association made neck guards mandatory as of next year. Meanwhile, the NHL’s deputy commissioner said on Tuesday that the league has been in touch with Marty Walsh, head of the NHL players’ union, on the topic, and that the NHL is “strongly recommending” cut-resistant equipment. “It’s time for mandatory neck protection at every level in hockey. The risk is far too great not to,” Hayley Wickenheiser, the Canadian women’s hockey legend and Toronto Maple Leafs assistant general manager, posted on social media. On Wednesday Canada’s federal minister for sport also called for mandatory neck guards in the NHL and WHL.

“It’s not a cool look having neck guards on,” the Washington Capitals forward TJ Oshie, told The Athletic this week. Oshie is the founder of Warroad, a company specialising in protective hockey gear. Warroad sold out of its adult and youth tops with cut-resistant necks and wrists in the wake of Johnson’s death. It’s a shirt Oshie hasn’t worn on the ice to this point, but he has now ordered five of the turtleneck-style shirts for him and his teammates to try. Johnson’s death “makes me think twice about protecting myself and my neck out there”, Oshie said. “Whether it looks cool or not.”

On Tuesday evening, the Pittsburgh Penguins held a tribute to Johnson before a game against the Anaheim Ducks. As a video of Johnson’s rookie lap and first NHL goal with the Penguins (for whom he played 13 games) ran on the large screen above centre ice, players from the Penguins and Ducks craned their still unprotected necks skyward to watch.

Earlier that day, the Penguins’ head coach, Mike Sullivan, told a reporter that the team will mandate neck guards for their American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League affiliates, and that they will encourage their NHL players to wear them too. “Why not?” Penguins centre Jeff Carter told The Athletic. “We do it at every other level of hockey. We should have already been trying it. Shouldn’t have taken this long for something like this.”