How unlucky is David Booth?  After missing 45 games with a concussion after the Mike Richards headshot in October, it looks like he going to miss some more time.  Booth got run over by Jaro Spacek during last night’s Habs win over Florida, in what Panthers’ GM Randy Sexton thought was a clean hit.  I can’t disagree. 

At first I thought Spacek might have jumped at him, but he doesn’t leave his feet until the moment that contact is made.  Now, this does mean that he’s aiming at an upward angle, really trying to rock Booth, and his shoulder does make contact with Booth’s head.  But Booth was also skating right for him, and this is where you encounter issues of players’ height relative to one another.  While both players are listed at an even 6 feet, Booth was leaning forward while skating, putting his face right at shoulder level for the Canadien defenceman. And in this observer’s opinion, Spacek still has to go for that hit.

The main page over at TSN currently asks in its top headline, “Absolute Protection?: Should the NHL penalize all shots to the head?”  It would appear that even though the new rule against blindside headshots has passed, the debate isn’t going to go away yet.  But at some point, the onus has to go back to the player who gets hit to avoid things.  If you skate right at a defenceman and you have the puck, you’d better be paying attention, because you’re going to get rocked; that’s one of the first things kids learn when they start playing contact hockey (and sometimes they learn it the hard way).  And if your head is at his shoulder level, you would naturally be extra careful.  I’m not saying that David Booth deserves any kind of reprimand for getting hurt, here.  But I am saying that he crossed the blueline with his head down, and he got filled in.  That’s not usually a great idea; just ask the Lindros brothers about it. 

If there’s anything that could have lessened the damage, though, look no further than an idea that Don Cherry brings up fairly often: fix the shoulder pads.  Many players have hard plastic caps on their shoulder pads that can do some serious damage.  This turns them from protective padding into an offensive weapon, and is something that the league - and equipment manufacturers - should take a serious look at. 

While we’re listening to Don Cherry, let’s just institute no-touch icing, so that next season the NHL isn’t dealing with a sudden rash of players whose careers have ended after horrendous injuries they sustained from crashing into the end boards. 

It’s time for a little more foresight at the NHL’s head offices, methinks.