Quote:
Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina
As I've said, for hockey - the definition of checking needs to evolve to be about getting possession of the puck and anything more than that - is a penalty. So more about angles and stick checks than physical body checking.
For football - I'm not sure but I see it as a significant long-term risk to the sport that is already playing out at the grassroots levels where participation rates are falling. The tipping point will be as we learn more about the damage of not single huge hits, but the cumulative impacts of hundreds and thousands of small hits.
But know I don't know how football evolves.
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As I said, I believe if you took body contact out of the NHL the league is done. You might disagree but I seriously think half the fan base walks. Then somebody else would start a league with hits and the NHL would be hooped. So many fans relate to physical play, Flyer fans, Boston fans, hell the Preds fans call their city Smashville. Taking body checking out would not evolve the game, it would kill it