Penguins Discuss Decision To Wear Neck Guards
Multiple Pittsburgh Penguins wore neck guards at practice, slowly making them a normalcy.
Multiple members of the Pittsburgh Penguins took to the ice for their most recent practice and were donning extra protection around their neck.
Following the death of former Penguins forward Adam Johnson, a number of hockey players from leagues across the world are jumping for new pieces of equipment, including neck guards.
Prior to heading out on their west coast road trip, defenseman Erik Karlsson, Marcus Pettersson, Ryan Graves and forward Lars Eller all wore neck guards on the ice.
“Probably try it out for a little bit,” Karlsson said. “See if I can get accustomed to it and go from there.”
Karlsson has a history with skate-related injuries, as it’s pretty well known a skate blade lacerated his Achilles in 2013, forcing him to miss a vast majority of the season.
After Karlsson’s injury, many players in hockey began wearing cut resistant socks and other articles of clothing.
“That’s probably what started that trend,” Karlsson said. “I don’t think anyone was really wearing it before that. Then after that, I think most guys now wear it.”
As for the neck protection specifically, Karlsson has used that sort of padding before; it’s a mandate in Swedish league that all players wear neck guards.
“I grew up in Sweden, playing with a neck guard was mandatory,” Karlsson said. “Even in the men’s league.”
Pettersson also grew up and played hockey in Sweden before making his way to the NHL, but did admit that wearing one again felt unusual.
“It was a little different,” Pettersson said. “Not having something then going to something like that… It felt unusual but it’s for a good thing.”
The neck guard the players were wearing were different than what you might imagine; Pettersson showed his off stating that a piece on the sides rides a little higher near the ears to protect vital areas.
Graves admitted that this sort of thing will take some getting used to, but it’s worth the try.
“It definitely takes some getting used to,” Graves said. “If you’re comparing what could happen versus wearing that, it’s a pretty small detail. It’s a work in progress, I think guys will start experimenting with them.”
Pettersson and Graves have suffered their own skate-related injuries, as well; Graves took a skate to the chin during in 2022 and Pettersson said he took a skate to the wrist while playing in Sweden.
Pettersson also stated that ever since then, he’s been wearing wrist protection ever since then.
Captain Sidney Crosby did not partake in wearing the neck guard, but seems open to the idea.
“I think everyone’s going to take a good look at it,” Crosby said. “There’s been some conversations, so we’ll see what happens.”
These Penguins aren’t alone in wearing neck guards at the NHL level, but it is still just a small sample size for the time being.
There seems to be belief that it will grow over the coming days and weeks.
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