Neckguards Mandatory. To be or not to be?

As many of you know that haven’t been living under a rock these past few days. On Sundays Florida Panthers game against the Buffalo Sabres, Richard Zednik of Fla got is neck sliced open by Teammate Olli Jokinens skate in a freak accident in the middle of the third period. As of today his condition has been upgraded from stable to good condition.

Which brings us to ask ourselves, should neck guards me mandatory? I personally don’t think so. Although I do think people should wear them, it’s really up to the individual to be a safe or responsible person. It really pisses me off though when people say stupid things like “Its rules like that, that are making the NHL a Pansy sport”. I’m sorry but these are real people with families that depend on them, playing these sports. There not just here to get them selves killed for your entertainment. They are playing a very tough and dangerous sport and they should try to be as safe about it as possible.

But if you look at it from another prospective, people once thought helmets were a dumb idea. Same thing goes for goalie masks. And the list could go on and on. So you never know, maybe 20 years from now people will be thinking what a dumb idea it was that players used to never wear neck guards.