nhl head office doesn't like helmetless trend the ottawa senators started
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the ottawa senators’ helmetless warmup in sin city has ruffled feathers at the national hockey league’s headquarters in new york.
the senators started a trend last wednesday by not wearing helmets during the warmup before their 4-3 shootout victory over the vegas golden knights at t-mobile arena.
the senators had lost six straight games in vegas and needed to change their luck, so the decision was made to go bucketless during warmups in vegas.
“it was just a little discussion over a team dinner last night,” defenceman jake sanderson told tsn’s kenzie lalonde after the second period of the game in vegas. “we’ll see if it happens in the future.”
the players were just trying to have a little fun and it worked because the senators came out on the right end of the scoreboard.
but since then, the san jose sharks have followed suit, collectively not wearing helmets during warmups on saturday in vegas.
on monday, the new jersey devils celebrated brendan dillon’s 1,000th game without helmets in the warmup before facing the columbus blue jackets and wore baseball caps instead.
nhl deputy commissioner bill daly told postmedia in an email on tuesday morning that the senators, sharks and devils won’t be fined, but the league does want to make sure that the rules are followed.
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“we intend to communicate a reminder memo,” daly wrote.
the sharks’ social media team even sent out a post on the website x before the game in vegas that it was “a no bucket zone.”
“it was a team decision,” sharks’ forward will smith said. “it was saturday night in vegas, so all the guys were pretty easy (to take part).”
players used to have a choice on whether they would wear a helmet or not, but that rule was recently changed for safety reasons. the league was concerned about a player getting hit by an errant puck.
the nhl says in the rule book that “it is mandatory for all players who entered the nhl beginning with the 2019-2020 season or later to wear their helmet during pre-game warm-up. to be clear, all players who entered the league prior to the 2019-2020 season and who are currently playing are exempt from this mandate.”
it was implemented at the start of the 2022-23 campaign.
the nhl put this rule in place because of safety concerns and, for the most part, players have respected it.
players can be fined $5,000 us each for breaking the rule. the memo will simply be a warning. the players feel it’s a better way for fans to be able to identify them, but understand the league’s worries about keeping everybody healthy.
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the senators had 10 players in the warmup in vegas who didn’t comply with the rule of wearing a helmet because their service wasn’t long enough.
you have to think that if the senators, sharks or devils go this route again, then the nhl’s head office will impose fines.
there were some raised eyebrows about the nhl’s approach because many believe it should be a personal choice.
“i think it’s goofy,” said tsn analyst frank corrado, a former nhl defenceman. “it’s kind of cool. as a player, i went buckets off a couple of times. as a team, when i was with vancouver, we played a game in montreal, where we were struggling and alex burrows said, ‘guys, let’s go out there as a team, no buckets and let’s try to get some swagger back and some confidence.’
“when i played in pittsburgh, the guys held my helmet back when we played vancouver because they said i had to go with ‘no, you’ve got to go with no bucket against your old team.’ i kind of like it. going no buckets is cool, it’s unique, and i don’t like this grandfathered-in thing they are doing.”
corrado said he wasn’t surprised after the senators initially did it that the trend caught on.
“think about it, it’s vegas, the warmup tunes in vegas are awesome and so is the whole warmup atmosphere,” corrado said. “everything there is so cool and then you add on going with no bucket in warmup. it’s kind of a silly thing to say because we’re adults, but it’s so freaking cool. i don’t know how else to describe it other than that. it’s a unique thing.”
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corrado knows the warmup can be out of control with pucks flying all over the place, which is why the nhl went this route in the first place.
“guys are shooting the puck bar and in during the warmup,” he said. “if guys weren’t doing that and shooting for the middle of the net, it wouldn’t be that big of an issue. i understand where they’re coming from. it’s a liability thing because something bad is going to happen and they don’t want it to happen. i get that.”
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