Doctor Urges Better Helmets

Around the NHL

Did you know that after every season the National Football League gets rid of all the players’ helmets and issues new ones?

“That’s because their capacity to absorb an impact decreases over time,” said Dr. Daniel Cooper, Dallas Stars team physician. “Did you ever see what happens to rubber after it sits a while in the sun? It gets hard.”

Replacing all the helmets has not enabled the NFL to prevent a growing number of concussions that has the league concerned. But at least the NFL is trying to address the problem.

Concussions also are on the rise in the NHL. Seven players on the New York Islanders had concussions last season, and one, Brett Lindros, younger brother of Eric Lindros, was forced to retire because of recurring concussions. Buffalo superstar Pat LaFontaine is out at least until February, suffering from post-concussion syndrome, and is contemplating retirement.

In the past week alone, Keith Primeau of Hartford, Paul Coffey of Philadelphia and Darius Kasparaitis of Pittsburgh all suffered concussions.

But in the NHL, the issue of headgear is still fuzzy. Until the 1970s, few players even wore them. Helmets became mandatory in the 1980s (there was a grandfather clause for players not using them), but the league since has backtracked: If a player desires, he may petition the league not to wear a helmet.

So far, no one has made such a petition, and Craig MacTavish of the Philadelphia Flyers remains the only NHL player who does not wear a helmet in games.

But there are plenty of players who wear inadequate headgear and that is a problem that has Cooper and his colleagues concerned.

“Part of it is image,” Cooper said. “Part of it is feeling invincible. Part of it is a lack of awareness on the part of players to the real potential for injury.”

Lately, though, there have been warning signs. The Islanders last year, LaFontaine this season. Last week’s rash of head injuries.

Despite the injury it caused him a few years ago, Mike Modano of the Stars is one of many NHL players who still wears his chin strap loose, enabling the helmet to fly off easily. And many players, Wayne Gretzky among them, wear helmets that are woefully inadequate as protection. Cooper said Gretzky’s is more cosmetic than protective.

“As a league, it seems unfathomable that as big a commodity as each player is, the NHL is not able to enforce protection,” Cooper said.

To enforce specific headgear the league would need an agreement with the NHL Players Association. None exists, although NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman in November set it as a priority.

Gretzky shines on milestone night

Wayne Gretzky assisted on four second-period goals to lead the New York Rangers to a 6-4 victory over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night. The four assists tied the Rangers’ record for assists in one period set by Phil Goyette on Dec. 20, 1963 against the Boston Bruins.

Rangers goaltender Mike Richter extended his winning streak to a career-high 11 games and his unbeaten streak to 15 games (14-0-1) as the Rangers won their 2,000th game since entering the NHL in the 1926-27 season (2,000-1,971-736).

Mario Lemieux scored twice and had three assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their unbeaten streak to eight games with a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Jaromir Jagr also had a goal and assist to raise his career point total to 600 in 481 games.

Trent Klatt and Mikael Renberg scored goals 2 minutes apart in the third period as Philadelphia rallied to tie Colorado 4-4 and extend the season’s longest unbeaten streak in the NHL to 16 games (13-0-3).

Colorado welcomed the return of Claude Lemieux but lost All-Star center Joe Sakic when he suffered a deep cut on the back of his lower left calf. His status is day-to-day.