Concussions rise sharply for goalies

Filip Chytil beat the final defender to the net, snapped a hot past Tuukka Rask and barreled over the goaltender he had just scored on.

Rask flipped his mask off, lay prone and needed assistance to get to his feet and to the Boston Bruins locker room. The goal counted, and Chytil faced no repercussions.

Rask suffered a concussion.

“I think it’s brutal, but what can you do?” Rask said. “The game’s so fast nowadays and space is limited. The guy’s driving wide and the Ds half a step late, then collisions happen.”

Those kinds of collisions are happening at an alarming rate over the past couple of seasons and goaltenders are getting hurt. Just two goaltenders were concussed in 2016-17, missing a total of 15 games, but over the past two seasons, 14 goalies missed a total of 276 games with a concussion or head injury caused by everything from elbows and knees to pucks off helmets.

This jarring statistic involves the most important position in hockey, but the NHL has not taken further steps to protect them. In recent years, the focus has been on trimming the size of goalie equipment as a way to generate more offense, and players are routinely coached to crash the net whenever possible. It adds up to putting the most valuable and vulnerable players on the ice at risk of head contact they can do little to avoid.

“We’re so dialed in on the puck, a lot of times you don’t see guys come from the side,” New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. “As a player, you can always adjust your body, but, if we adjust our positioning, we open up the net.”

Elsewhere

Former New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Dan Girardi, 35, announced his retirement from the NHL after 13 seasons. Girardi appeared in 927 games, finishing with 56 goals, 264 points and a plus-78 rating. He also played in 143 playoff games, four Eastern Conference finals and one Stanley Cup final over 11 seasons with the Rangers and two with the Lightning. He entered the league with New York as an undrafted free agent in 2006.