Outside high level hockey with the potential for advancement into major junior/college etc, there's really no need for hitting. If your kid is that desperate to smash into things, there's football and combat sports.
The lack of time spent on hitting would leave more time to focus on skating, puck skills, positioning etc and if someone blooms a little bit later on, you can teach him to hit. He'll have the other tools developed to handle contact hockey, and he'll be able to bring more to the table.
I played goalie for 9 years and forward my last year midget - anecdotally, learning to hit is really not that hard. Keep your arms down and your head up.
Conversely, I played with a kid from peewee to midget who suffered at least two concussions a year. Another kid would get destroyed every other night because he was a pest and world class **** talker who couldn't stay on his skates. And he got the crap kicked out of him. We were playing division 2 midget hockey. Ain't nobody on that team representing Canada in Seoul.
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