Should the NHL Do More To Protect Its Players?

Before we start, let’s give Leafs fans a collective second to let out all their tears. Okay… done? (We know you have a lot to cry about this season, but we have to move on. Apologies!)

If you’ve been following along with the NHL’s 2025-2026 season, then (even if you’re not a Leafs fan), you’ve inevitably seen someone on your favourite team get injured. It might have been a bad hit into the boards, it might have been a brutal check, or maybe unrelated to hockey altogether, but you’ve been upset about injuries frequently this season. 

But… do you feel like you’ve been shedding tears about stars being injured, perhaps a little too much? Not about feeling upset – you’re valid for that, and we get you – but is it because the volume of injuries has increased this season? 

It’s hard to tell without being biased. But sometimes it feels like we’re crying a little too much about our star players being hurt, and that maybe someone should look into that. (But not our designated sports therapist bestie: they're booked up until after playoffs!)

Edmonton Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl coming back to the bench after receiving a lower-body injury on March 15th. Courtesy of sportsnet.ca

How Does the Department of Player Safety Work?

Injuries happen all the time in sports – unfortunately, that’s just how it works. The NHL is like most professional sports leagues, however, in that it will often look at the mechanism of an injury and decide if further punishment to the athlete who caused the injury is required. 

If you’re thinking what does that mean… don’t worry; that’s us too. Basically, that’s just a fancy way for the league to say that if a hit, check, or any kind of physical contact from one player to another seems malicious or intentional enough, they will do an investigation to see if any players need to be penalized. 

According to their website, the Department of Player Safety (DoPS) watches every game from a high-tech situation room located in New York, and to invoke supplementary action on a player following an on-ice incident, they consider many factors, such as the injuries received, score of the game, or types of players involved (think rookies, veterans, or star player on a team).

Depending on the severity of the combination of these factors, the DoPS can have a hearing with offending players. They do this one of two ways: on the phone or in person. A phone hearing is for less severe hearings: if athletes receive a phone hearing, the maximum number of games the player can be suspended for is 5. These players could also receive a fine of $5000 or more, depending on their salaries and if they have been fined/suspended before. 

An in-person hearing is slightly different. This is when an offending player and his camp (his agent, his team’s GM, etc) meet with the DoPS and decide from there. This is usually for severe punishments, as the minimum number of games the athlete will be suspended is 6 games. 

Finally, there is one more thing the DoPS considers: the case of repeat offenders. ‘Repeat offenders’ are classified as athletes who have received a suspension within the past 18 months, and if these athletes receive another hearing or phone call, they have to forfeit more money. Normal players (if they get fined rather than suspended) have to forfeit based on their salary and how many days are in a season, but repeat offenders must forfeit based on their salary and how many games are played. (So roughly 190 vs. just 82).

George Parros, head of the Department of Player Safety, talking to the media on March 17th. Courtesy of sportsnet.ca

History of Injuries 

So, how does the DoPS decide whether to give a player a 3, 8, or 10-game suspension? How do they decide whether an on-ice altercation is worthy of a phone or in-person hearing? 

We’re… not exactly sure, and there have been numerous instances recently that have seemed questionable.

Auston Matthews’ injury in the March 12th Leafs vs. Ducks game caused quite the controversy online. Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas hit Matthews hard during the second period in direct knee-on-knee contact, and as a result, the Leafs captain had to be helped off the ice and did not return to the game. 

The Leafs announced the next day that their captain had a grade 3 MCL sprain and quadriceps contusion, and as a result, he would miss the rest of the 2025-2026 season. Many fans expected the DoPS to give Gudas a heavy suspension for the hit, as by all accounts, it was quite intense. Given that Gudas was also a repeat offender, they likely expected at least an in-person hearing, but he didn’t receive any of that. Instead, he received a phone call and subsequently got a 5-game suspension.

5 games is still a lot, but given the severity of Matthews’ injury, many likely expected Gudas to be fined or at least receive an in-person hearing. Especially given that Gudas is a known ‘enforcer’ and tough guy, 5 games feel like a minimum, not a maximum. 

Toronto Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews, following a hit from Anaheim Ducks captain Radko Gudas. Courtesy of nhlpa.com

During the 2026 Winter Olympics, something similar happened. Sidney Crosby, captain of Team Canada and widely known as the ‘face of Canadian hockey’, received a hit from Radko Gudas and subsequently had to leave the game. He didn’t end up returning for the Gold Medal game, and even though one singular player would not have made a huge difference in a locker room full of superstars, it was odd that the DoPS didn’t consider this during Gudas’ phone call hearing.

Matthews and Crosby were the team captains for Team USA and Team Canada, as well as their own individual teams. Gudas probably doesn’t intentionally target team captains every night, and these two incidents happening so close together might have been nothing more than a coincidence, but still – the DoPS’s choices here were questionable at best.

Team Canada captain Sidney Crosby going back to the bench after being injured in Team Canada's quarterfinal game against Team Czechia. Courtesy of pensburgh.com

What Can We Do?

We all love watching our favourite teams with or without their best players, and in a league that’s so physical, sometimes unfortunate hits happen. It would be impossible to avoid contact every night even if these elite athletes wanted to, and more than that, often, fans’ perspective of hits is biased. It’s more about your team being down their best player as opposed to the discipline received itself, and even if we don’t want to admit it, we’d have different feelings if it were our favourite team’s captain getting injured as opposed to our rival’s team's captain.

But in a season where the Leafs aren’t making the playoffs anyway, this blow to the lineup felt intentional and improperly rectified. But again, I admit freely: Leafs fans are, by all accounts, delusional, so take this all with a grain of salt. 

(And anyway… if I said ‘it’s our year’, would you still believe me? Or have you seen The Boy Who Cried Wolf one too many times?) 

Edited by Olivia Feldgus