Don’t Ever Trust A Fellow With a Helmet on His Head

By Murray Crawford

In 1979 the NHL grandfathered in a mandatory helmet rule.  Ever since then every new player in the NHL had to wear a helmet.  The last player to skate with his hair flowing freely was Craig MacTavish, now coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

Flash-forward to today when not a single player is helmetless and the NHL is even looking at making visors mandatory.  There remain an elite few who have given in to the pressure of wearing a helmet but refuse to utilize its protection abilities.  In the game they are the players with the helmet straps dangling much lower than the rest of the team.

When they go in for a fore-check the helmet typically gets dislodged and they have to put it back on their heads while skating back up the ice.  The helmet will pop off more often than a player who wears the straps tight, and even then the player who wears the straps looser will keep on playing while another player would skate to the bench for a change.

These are the toughest players in the game today, despite the NHL forcing them to don protection they refuse to don it properly and they refuse to give up when the helmet comes loose.  So here are five of the players who wouldn’t wear a helmet if it weren’t enforced.

Ryan Smyth – This guy bleeds hockey toughness.  When he and Chris Pronger were both Oilers Smyth took a Pronger point slap shot off the teeth.  Smyth lost teeth after that but suited up for the next period and assisted on the winning goal, talk about determination.  Smyth can often be seen flying into corners or getting whacked in front of the net, with his helmet coming off often enough that we all get to know his mullet.  It is quite the hockey mullet; Smyth is the definition of old school hockey.

Chris Chelios – Like Smyth Chelios has an immediate connection to the helmetless era.  While Craig MacTavish coached Smyth, Chelios played with Doug Wilson, one of the last helmetless players.  Chelios started professional hockey just five years after helmets were made mandatory.  If Chelios had his way it would have stayed optional.  He wears a very old helmet; a raggedy old thing that looks like it could break at any second.  He wears it loose too; his helmet has been known to pop off in a pinch.

Jarome Iginla – This may seem a little out of place because Iggy wears a visor but think back to the 2004 Stanley Cup Final.  Every game there was a moment when Iggy was fore-checking hard and deep in Tampa territory and, almost, like clockwork his helmet would pop off and he would try harder.  He was determined to score a changing goal.  When we saw his baldhead we knew that’s what he wanted to do.  He is one of the toughest guys in the league right now, bringing whole new meaning to the term Gordie Howe Hat-Trick.

Sean Avery – Everyone’s favourite scapegoat for everything wrong with the NHL.  He’s a loudmouth, a pest and he does his job very well.  While I don’t think he could stand up to the best fighters in the league, George Laraques and George Parros, he does a good job of being a distraction.  He still doesn’t wear a visor; he even alienated Quebecois with his comments about players who wear visors.  But he doesn’t like to do his helmet up properly.  It’ll pop off and show off his buzzed head. If you really want to see him helmetless watch The Rocket he plays Bob Dill, a tough guy who tries to beat up Maurice Richard but fails miserably, talk about type casting.

Darcy Tucker – There have been many words to describe Tucker over the years; terrier, fighter, leader, pest and, recently in Toronto, overpaid, but he does a good job of losing his lid more than others of his stature.  He wears it loose and gets madder when it pops off.  He is certainly up there in terms of age, so the question becomes how much longer can he run around and bounce off people?  Either way there was a time when he was the best.

There are more, many of them enforcers.  Laraques and Parros certainly fit the mold.  But there are fewer of them every year.  Is this tough guy trait slowly dying in a league that used to only accept the toughest?  There will always be a place in the league for those types of players, but let’s not forget the things they bring that other players don’t.