Hockey is a contact sport, so yes, when it comes to physical play and being hit, everyone that says the onus is on a player to keep their head up and protect themselves, is correct.
However, contact to the head can cause permanent damage. And the league wants to, and needs to, reduce the number of hits to the head. Not only for player safety, but also for their own liability. And if you want to accomplish that, you have to put the onus on the player making the hit to not hit the head.
Period. This isn't about a 'code'. It isn't about keeping your head up. It's about head trauma. And that will require different rules.
The only way to stop hits to the head is to put the onus on the person delivering the hit, not the person receiving it.
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