Darren Dreger raised a question on Twitter on Tuesday about visors/shields that I had not considered.
Let's go back to Monday night's game against Toronto. Chris Pronger takes a stick to the right eye on an attempted shot by Mikhail Grabovski.
I am told the blade caught him flat around the right eye, causing swelling and a cut. The Flyers feel Pronger was lucky that the stick him hit that way, because at another angle, the damage could have been much worse.
After the game, GM Paul Holmgren said that the next time Pronger plays, he will wear a shield, something he's never done in 18 years. That's because the Flyers team eye doctor, Stephen Goldman told Pronger that he would not medically clear him to play without a visor.
Dreger raised this point: why is that a team doctor can mandate a visor but the NHLPA can't?
Good point.
I feel that visors should be mandatory for every player, just as helmets are mandatory. If I am the Flyers, who are paying Pronger almost $5 million a season, they should have the right to protect their investment.
So many players of his generation, however, played without a visor and got used to it. They won't change. Andreas Lilja is not as old but he told us he tried many times to wear and could not get comfortable with it.
But it's interesting it took a doctor to make a definitive call here.
Should the NHLPA mandate visors for every player, even enforcers?
Here's Flyer reaction to this story on CSNPhilly.com:
click here