In an era of NHL concussion discussion, there isn't much sock talk going on.
It wasn't all that long ago that the Ottawa Senators' Norris trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson was placed onto injured reserve for the remainder of the season after having his leg cut open by a skate, and while it was the talk of the town, it's already fallen off the radar.
The Ottawa Senator met the wrong end of Pittsburgh Penguin Matt Cooke's skate during a game between the two clubs in February, leaving Karlsson with a lacerated Achilles tendon and giving him an indefinite spot on the injured reserve.
You can look at this as a freak accident, or an inevitability of the game. It's no secret that hockey is a game involving finely tuned athletes traveling at high rates of speed with steel blades attached to their feet, so why is it that protecting an area of the body as vital to the game as the ankle and lower leg has been of so little concern?
This is in no way a new issue in the NHL, even 42-year-old veteran Teemu Selanne, who suffered a strikingly similar Achilles tendon injury early in his career at age 23, agreed that Kevlar socks could have prevented Karlsson's injury.
"I do hope though that instances like these show players that we should all wear the protective sleeves and socks. They are available these days. You can't even tell that you are wearing them and it really helps in this situation. Maybe it should be mandatory," Selanne told CBC Sports in February.
Maybe it should be, but even at a recent general managers meeting, protecting the lower leg was far from the forefront of discussion. There was a large emphasis on grandfathering mandatory visors into the league, which some players would argue could inhibit playing ability, but despite the week-long frenzy in February surrounding Kevlar socks and the fact that no player has ever voiced concern of the socks inhibiting playing ability, making them mandatory wasn't seen as a major concern.
Kevlar socks haven't been a secret in the NHL, as many players currently opt to use them, but they have not been promoted in a way that I think they should be. Considering they are relatively equal to wool socks in terms of weight and comfort, but they provide a greater deal of protection when it comes to contact with a blade, it astounds me to see them slip off the radar so quickly.
