NHL Players Enjoy Getting Injured - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

It's bad enough that a majority of NHL players resist wearing a visor, risking eyesight for the pursuit of 'not being girly'. So, it's no surprise that many NHL players would resist the institution no-touch icing into the game.

As noted earlier at FanHouse, the inane touch-icing rule was a big part in why Kurtis Foster is now out for the season with a broken leg. What was supposed to be a routine puck chase turned into a devastating injury, something that we've seen many times before.

Just ask Pat Peake, once a top prospect of the Washington Capitals, how great touch icing really is. For those who don't know, Pat Peake's NHL career basically ended when it started, after he shattered his right heel in a chase to negate an icing call. Quite senseless.

Over and over, we hear the same recycled garbage about how putting no-touch icing into the game would negate the exciting chases for the puck, and inundate us with even more whistles and play stoppages.

Tell me, how many icings are negated during the course of an average game. One? Less than one? Would this really affect the quality of the game?

The current rule is stupid, and puts many players at risk over a relatively meaningless (in terms of game outcome) play. Any defenseman skating back for the puck is going to be prone to injury, simply by slipping/tripping, or being 'helped' down like Foster was.

Teams will adapt, and will learn that icing the puck means even more of an instant penalty. It's bad enough that a team can't make a line change after an icing, so imagine how scared a player would be to ice the puck if he knew that it couldn't be negated.

I would think that no-touch icing would equal far fewer injuries and far fewer icings. Of course, this makes too much sense for the league or the PA to even consider.