The NHL Needs A Better System To Reclassify Players Injuries
Hockey is one of my favorite sports to watch and easily one of the hardest sports to play. However, I am super annoyed with one part of the game in the NHL. That involves how teams classify injuries. Have you noticed that almost every time an injury report comes out, it is labeled as an upper-body or lower-body injury? I may be in the minority here, but I have a major problem with this classification
A big reason why is how vague it is. Think about it: there are so many parts of the human body that can get injured. An upper body could be a concussion, jaw, nose, arm, hand, finger, wrist, other muscles in the arm/upper back, etc. With the lower body injury, it could be a toe, foot, leg, lower back, other muscles in the legs/lower back and etc.
It is so vague about where the injury is and the specific injury. Is it a torn ligament, sprain, bruise, cut, gash, blister, broken, etc.? Labeling it as an Upper or Lower body injury doesn’t make it simple to treat these injuries or understand the effect of their play.
I have heard from multiple analysts and fans that teams use this system because they are afraid their competitors will target the injured player. Here is the problem with that, though: you are still putting the injured player on the ice, further risking making that injury worse.
Here is the thing that makes no sense in that thought. If the injury is so severe that you don’t want him to get that area targeted in a hockey game, then guess what? Don't play him. Make sure it is healthy to the point where you won't fear that it will get reaggravated.
I know sometimes there are times that teams want an athlete on the ice for a potential push for a playoff berth, marketability in the trade deadline, or to advance in the playoffs, but the opposing players will still know where the injury is located after all it is labeled as a higher or lower-body injury.
It is still a system that harms the players more than helps them. Every team's goal is still to protect the player, and this upper/lower body system is ridiculous. Just look at the injury report for players when a team is eliminated; it's ridiculous with the injuries that these guys play with.
Look at what happened with Jacob Trouba. The dude was being called done and declined hard due to his bad playoff play. I even called him out in my open letter to the New York Rangers.
Little did everyone know that Jacob Trouba played on a broken ankle during the playoffs and was nowhere near 100% on the ice. That's ridiculous that he was even allowed on the ice with a broken ankle. I don't care if the Rangers were close to getting a cup; injured players playing hurt are a big liability.
I won't be surprised if the NHL CBA is up in 2025/2026 with a better injury classification system. The one the NHL currently uses, labeling an upper or lower body injury, is super problematic. The league and players' association need to change that to protect the players in the short term and long term.
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