From The Silky Mitten State: Is the NHL doing enough to promote on-ice safety for its players?
For obvious reasons, Dylan Larkin's health is of paramount importance to the Detroit Red Wings. His injured-mandated absence in March left Detroit over-extended and reeling; it may well have cost them a shot at the playoffs if not for the other Eastern wild card contenders sputtering at the same time.
It was Larkin's second prolonged injury-related absence of the season, with the first coming after a check to the head from behind against the Ottawa Senators in December. "It's hard to feel safe out there," Larkin said at the time. "It's hard to know how to protect yourself. I truly believe that we have the best refs in the world in the sport of hockey...Our refs are good. I just think the message being sent down from the top—what is safe and what's not, how to discipline it—there's a lot of questions there, and it's kind of scary as a player."
On Saturday afternoon against the Florida Panthers, Larkin's health was again at the center of the game's narrative. Early on, Larkin took a shot to the back of his leg, forcing him to briefly exit the game. He attempted to return, had to go back to the dressing room after being unable to put weight on the ailing leg, then returned again to score a third-period goal. There was a clear ambivalence to this dynamic, with Larkin's injury and importance perhaps suggesting that he shouldn't have gone back on the ice, while his production upon returning implies he was healthy enough to play.
On the most recent episode of The Silky Mitten State, my co-host Connor Earegood (who wrote a column on the subject earlier this week) and I discussed whether we feel the NHL does enough to promote on-ice player safety. He's an excerpt from that conversation:
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