Montreal Canadiens defenceman Kaiden Guhle had a close encounter with a dangerous injury during Tuesday night’s home game against the Calgary Flames.
In the wake of a fatal neck injury sustained by former NHLer Adam Johnson in an EIHL game, the evolution of safety measures seems to be on the rise in leagues around the world.
And like in the case of Johnson, an opposing player’s skate blade got very close to an area where Guhle does not wear protection.
In this instance, though, Elias Lindholm’s skate blade does not seem to make contact with the 21-year-old’s neck but rather his mouth or the lower part of his face.
After the legs of Lindholm, who may have been tripped, made their way into the air, Guhle covered his face and hit the ice on his knees in discomfort.
Kaiden Guhle évite le pire et s'en tire heureusement sans conséquences 🙏 pic.twitter.com/UkUry0KQpj
— RDS (@RDSca) November 15, 2023
While Guhle left the ice as a result of the incident, he later returned, indicating that he did not sustain a serious injury from the impact.
Kaiden Guhle leaves the ice after an incident with a skate blade.
It could have been much, much worse.
Let's get neckguards on everyone, asap. pic.twitter.com/BYB9dTEZiJ
— Marc Dumont (@MarcPDumont) November 15, 2023
As for whether neck guards are coming to the NHL, the answer is not yet known, but some players have already taken up the extra protection voluntarily. For example, TJ Oshie of the Washington Capitals recently sported one in a game.
“I made my choice for my kids. I want to stick around for ’em,” the veteran forward explained after debuting the new piece of equipment. “I’d hope it shows that it’s really not a distraction from my game. I thought I played pretty decent tonight. Honestly, it was actually really comfortable.”
Meanwhile, some of Guhle’s own Canadiens teammates, such as forwards Brendan Gallagher and Michael Pezzetta, have also been donning neck protectors in practice.
Time will tell if the trend catches on across the league.