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Will teen's death inspire more proctective hockey equipment?
The NHL made visors, like the one Kings forward Jeff Carter wears, mandatory in the 2013-14 season. Harry How/Getty Images

Will teen's death inspire more proctective hockey equipment?

Sad news came down through the hockey world earlier this week with the announcement that Russian junior player Alexander Orekhov passed away a few weeks after a puck hit him in the neck. He was only 16 years old.

The incident seems rare — a stray puck hitting Orekhov behind his ear, right at his carotid artery, and sending him into cardiac arrest, then into a coma. But there have been plenty of scary injuries in hockey leagues across the globe, and the NHL is no exception. With raised awareness about the dangers of sustaining some of these injuries, there has been a hike in player safety precautions and equipment improvements in an effort to make everyone on the ice safer.

So it goes to wonder: Will Orekhov’s death prompt a change in players’ equipment to help ensure more safety?

As freak of a chance as it is that the puck hit Orekhov right in the artery, this isn’t the first time an errant biscuit has hit a player in the neck. During a 2013 tilt between the San Jose Sharks and the New Jersey Devils, a shot by Brent Burns ricocheted and hit goaltender Martin Brodeur in the back of the neck. While the incident fortunately didn’t break any vertebrae or knock Brodeur unconscious, he did lay motionless on the ice for a spell.

He described the moment to Rich Chere of NJ.com: “I wasn’t out. It was more like an electric shock through my body. Whatever it’s called, kind of numbness everywhere.”

Puck hit causes numbness all over the body? Sounds like a good reason to up safety measures. Players already have chest and back protection, along with shoulder pads that help protect the clavicle. Is more protection for the neck a possibility for the future of the game?

Attention to player safety in the NHL has increased over the last couple of decades with expanded knowledge of concussions and other injuries. Although, those adjustments did take some time to evolve.

The league made helmets mandatory at the start of the 1979-80 season, although there were veterans who were allowed to continue playing without them if they signed a liability waiver. (Fun fact: The last helmet-less player was Craig MacTavish, whose career ended after the 1996-97 season.) Visors were made mandatory in the 2013-14 season following an incident in which New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal took a puck to the eye and was sidelined for the remainder of the season with blurred vision. Could some type of protective shield for players’ necks be the next visor, perhaps?

Granted, added shielding for the neck could be yet another safety precaution that not all will be immediately required to wear, much like the visor. As with the the helmets themselves, the NHL’s mandatory visor rule was grandfathered in, stipulating that players who played 26 or more regular-season and playoff games in the league had the option to not wear one.

This, of course, makes for a hot topic of conversation any time a player gets injured and isn’t wearing one. During the 2014 season, San Jose Sharks veteran Joe Thornton took a puck to the eye during a game against the Anaheim Ducks. Even with a busy game schedule and an eye so purple and swollen that he couldn’t quite open it, Thornton wasn't sold on putting a visor on his helmet.

Thornton is, however, one of the few players in the league who hasn’t started wearing one out of personal preference. So if that many players change their minds about wearing a visor, perhaps a similar trend would take place if equipment for protecting the neck was implemented.

Understandably, the first mention of added neck protection conjures up images of adding a clunky shield to the back of players’ shoulder pads. But taking into consideration the transformation of hockey equipment over the last couple of years, there’s no reason why an effective and minimally evasive means of protection couldn’t be invented. (Think back to the 2013 season when Bauer first introduced gear that was “lighter” and also “more protective.”) If adjustments to equipment are in the future, we will probably see a similar series of changes and improvements made.

There is a possibility that Alexander Orekhov’s tragic death will go down as a rare instance in the game of hockey. But there is still the possibility that it could inspire more evolution in the way of protective hockey equipment.

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