NHL Players Debuting Neck Guards After The Adam Johnson Tragedy

Changes Being Made After The Tragedy

After the tragic freak accident death of former Pittsburgh Penguin Adam Johnson, hockey has taken a serious step in the right direction of player safety. In 2024, neck guard protection will be mandatory for both the English Ice Hockey League and the Western Hockey League. In addition, the Penguins have mandated their AHL and ECHL to wear neck guards so they can continue to be safe and that freak accident does not happen again.

There has been speculation about whether guard protection should be mandatory in the NHL and the AHL. However, some players have already made the jump, as Erik Karlsson, Marcus Pettersson, and Lars Eller were some of the first players to wear neck and/or wrist protection on Thursday.

In practice on Thursday, Karlsson mentioned being a strong advocate for the use of neck gear, holding very opinionated views on the matter.

"“Just trying it out – it is available for us. The magnitude of the situation that unfortunately happened puts a lot of things in perspective. I think that we all have families and friends – we do this because we love to do this, and we get paid well to do it and stuff like that, but at the end of the day, we do it cause it’s a choice. I don’t think anyone would keep doing it if it meant risking your life every day going out there. If you can wear a small piece of equipment to hopefully prevent something like that again, I think that’s a win. We’re going to try it out for the foreseeable future and see if I can wear it regularly. I hope I can, and I hope more and more guys try to do the same, at least.”"

What Will The Future Hold?

TJ Oshie of the Washington Capitals was one of if not the first players in the NHL to wear a neck guard during a game against the New York Islanders. The biggest question/storyline is will the NHL mandate it for their players and how many players will actually wear them during games.

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