More from Miller on head shots

Ryan Miller is honored to be a member of the NHL competition committee. The two-year gig started last spring. He's hoping next spring the group gets to talk about something that really matters.

The Sabres goaltender noticed "media-driven" issues dominated the conversations in June while he wanted to talk about real problems plaguing the players. Instead of fighting and goalie equipment -- the causes du jour -- he wants to legislate hits to the head.

"I was mad that they were only reacting to media-related issues, like the fighting, goal scoring – those are complete media issues – or goaltending equipment," Miller said. "We have some real issues in the game we’re trying to address, and it seems like they get pushed off to the side because there’s pressure. They want to get the goaltending stuff done because they made a promise to the fans through the media that you would see a reduction in goalie equipment. Why? Goal scoring is going up. It’s still hard to be a goalie. There’s protection issues. There’s research and development issues. What are you guys doing about it. They just want to react.

"Because there was so much media pressure, we had to address fighting. Fighting happens in every other sport, and it’s penalized by getting kicked out. We penalize it differently, but it’s still major penalties and major amount of the game is missed. Five minutes is a long time for a scrap. Adding two, five and 10 to a fight, you’re out. We reacted to it, and now we have a major penalty for instigating a fight. But we don’t have anything that covers something that can end a guy’s career or put him out for the rest of the game, something that can hurt a team for more than just that game. Yeah, start a fight, start a scrap, it usually doesn’t affect a superstar or somebody that can change that game that night. But now we’ve got something that can put a guy out who can change the game every night, and nothing gets done about it."

He's hoping the next thing the media and league react to are head shots.

"Every year, it’s just like, 'Ah, we don’t want to take the hitting out of hockey.' Well, we don’t want to take our best players out of hockey," Miller said. "We want to have the best product on the ice every night.

"A fan who buys a ticket four, five months ahead of time, waiting to see their favorite player come through, expects to see their favorite player on the ice. That’s just the way it goes, and you’re going to have guys on the shelf for a week just because they got grazed in the head by some idiot with his elbow."

---John Vogl

Comments

[Heather B.]

Amen, amen, a thousand times amen. Every year the GMs get together and say, "Well, I guess we can look into that. We'll talk about it again next time," and nothing ever changes. Nice to hear a player come right out and say things need to change.

[Dave]

You're both right. I'd add to the conversation, but you guys have said everything I would have.

[Lamarfish]

He's right, the other issues aren't life threatening or life changing. Look at what happened to Dominic Moore's brother Steve when that jerk Bertuzzi hit him so hard with his stick over the helmet, he's got a permanent brain injury as the result. Drury just got another hit that gave him another concussion and nobody from Buffalo can forget the hit he suffered from Chris Neill. To those who say it will take the hitting out of hockey by enforcing serious hits to the head, it is impossible to remove the hitting due to the speed of the port. I just don't understand why some manufacturer doesn't make a better protective helmet for the players as well. There is a definite need to protect all of these guys and our kids who are skating in our local rinks and youth leagues.

[CalgarySabre2]

Headshots are what ended the career of Pat Lafontaine. (We could name others, but let's leave it there.) Do you want to watch skilled players, or do you want to watch headhunting thugs? The minor hockey rule (at least in Canada) is clear: you cannot target the head. If you do, it is a minor and a 10 minute misconduct, or a major and a game misconduct. I have officiated 10 games this season and I have not had to call that penalty once. Players will get the message. There is nothing wrong with a clean solid hit to the body, but ruining someone's career and life is wrong. And the current NHL rule is no rule at all; it is random. If you are Richards (a star on a big market US team) you get nothing. If you are an average player on a small market team (Glencross) you get 3 games. Or whatever Colin Campbell feels like handing out that day. Question to the NHL: if you can call highsticking because "you have to be in control of your stick", how hard is it to call headshots because "you have to be in control of your body check"?