Seventeen years and more than 1,200 games ago, Andrew Cogliano<\/a> remembers how difficult it was to traverse the state of California.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles Kings<\/a>, Anaheim Ducks<\/a> and San Jose Sharks<\/a> were three of the biggest, heaviest teams in the league. If you had to play all three in succession? Well, good luck. Not only were those teams willing to play a punishing brand of hockey, but they were all highly skilled and generally successful, too.<\/p>\n After a few years in Edmonton where he broke into the league, Cogliano was dealt to the Ducks as a free agent in the summer of 2011 and was part of a team that qualified for the playoffs in six straight seasons from 2012-13 through 2017-18. Those California road trips became regular intrastate battles. And they were vicious.<\/p>\n \u201cMy first couple years in Anaheim, physicality was one of the biggest things talked about in terms of game-planning,\u201d Cogliano said. \u201cWe used to play L.A. and San Jose and have just wars in terms of physicality.\u201d<\/p>\n There are several ways NHL<\/a> teams can be physical. One of them, of course, is throwing devastating body checks that can have the effect of both separating the opponent from the puck and making him more trepidatious when he\u2019s heading into a corner or stick-handling through the neutral zone with his head down.<\/p>\n No one denies that body checking is still an important part of today\u2019s game, and can often be a key to success, particularly in the playoffs. But Cogliano admits that hitting, and the fear of being hit, has declined since he was a rookie or when he was in the thick of those California clashes. There\u2019s less of an emphasis on that part of the game coming up as a kid and teenager through developmental leagues, he figures. And it\u2019s noticeable when he\u2019s on the ice, now as a veteran forward with the Colorado Avalanche<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen kids are growing up now, they\u2019re probably less talking about being physical and more about playing with the puck \u2014 skill and talent,\u201d he said. \u201cI just think that the (way the) league is now, there\u2019s probably just more room out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Winnipeg Jets<\/a> defenseman Brenden Dillon<\/a>, one of the more feared hitters in the league, agreed with Cogliano\u2019s rationale.<\/p>\n \u201cThe new-age player, definitely there\u2019s more emphasis on the skill and the stick-handling and the shooting than it is on the body contact,\u201d Dillon said. \u201cGuys that are coming into the league, there\u2019s definitely less physical players.\u201d<\/p>\n The result, according to former Blues<\/a> and Flyers<\/a> coach Craig Berube, is that young players today are less equipped to deal with the potential of getting run over by those who, like the 33-year-old Dillon, 12th in the league in hits since 2015-16, still adhere to the seek-and-destroy philosophy.<\/p>\n \u201cOne hundred percent,\u201d Berube said in an interview prior to being fired in St. Louis. \u201cThere\u2019s not big hits (in junior and minor leagues). It\u2019s just the way hockey has been played and how they\u2019ve been taught. They don\u2019t have much awareness for that.\u201d<\/p>\n John Tortorella touched a nerve throughout the NHL community following a collision in a Flyers-Devils<\/a> game last month, when Garnet Hathaway<\/a> was issued a five-minute major and game misconduct for plowing into Luke Hughes<\/a>, temporarily sending the young defenseman to the dressing room for repairs.<\/p>\n The Flyers coach was upset that linesman Brandon Grillo blew the whistle too late on a potential icing (something confirmed by replays). He argued it wasn\u2019t Hathaway\u2019s fault; that he was simply finishing his check on the rookie in an attempt to gain possession.<\/p>\n The next day, after time to reflect, Tortorella mentioned he was thankful Hughes didn\u2019t suffer any significant injury on the play. But he also used the opportunity from his news conference pulpit to offer some deeper thoughts on the state of hitting in today\u2019s NHL.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a problem in our league right now. Our players in this league do not put enough emphasis on making sure you\u2019re protecting yourself from hits like that \u2014 making sure you absorb hits like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve kind of tried to turn this league into a No Hit League. Now people aren\u2019t ready to be hit. I think it\u2019s a lost art in how you take hits. I do think looking at the clip, (Hughes) thinks it\u2019s icing.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing wrong with the play. It shouldn\u2019t even have been a penalty. It screams to the athletes in our game, be prepared to be hit because big hits are allowed. Nowadays, I\u2019m not so sure because everyone puts their arms up when there\u2019s a big hit. It makes me sick what goes on in the league here on big hits. That\u2019s part of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n Tortorella\u2019s description of the NHL as the \u201cNo Hit League\u201d was at least slightly hyperbolic. There are still heavy, clean body checks that go unpenalized with no supplemental discipline (see Trouba, Jacob). But he was also somewhat prescient when it comes to the officiating, as there have since been a string of controversial hits resulting in varying and, many would argue<\/a>, inconsistent degrees of discipline.<\/p>\n That\u2019s part of the problem, according to Dillon.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the discipline is not great at all. There\u2019s so much grey area for it,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no video to every team at the start of camp \u2014 what is a penalty, and what isn\u2019t a penalty? What is a boarding, and what isn\u2019t a boarding? You really don\u2019t know from day to day what the refereeing is going to be like.\u201d<\/p>\n His take on the Hathaway play, and his evaluation of how the Flyers as a team have remained surprisingly competitive, would be music to the Philadelphia coach\u2019s ears.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that team is the most skilled when you look at it, but it seems like they play a very disciplined, physical brand of hockey, and you know what to expect,\u201d Dillon said. \u201cGarnet Hathaway is coming on the forecheck. You\u2019re probably getting hit. You\u2019re not excited to go back for that puck.\u201d<\/p>\n Jeff O\u2019Neill, an NHL veteran of 11 seasons who retired in 2007 and is now an analyst with TSN in Canada, said referees are much too quick to penalize the hitter rather than consider a player who might be putting himself in a vulnerable position. And, naturally, players don\u2019t want to leave their team shorthanded, so why take the chance?<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s gotten to the point where it\u2019s got a tinge of European World Championships, where if it\u2019s a big, thunderous check, all of a sudden an arm seems to go up and it\u2019s boarding somehow,\u201d O\u2019Neill said. \u201cThat Luke Hughes hit, I think, was an example \u2014 you put yourself in a goofy position like that and you get rocked. It\u2019s not a penalty. It\u2019s your fault.\u201d<\/p>\n Jared Bednar, the Avalanche coach, also heard Tortorella\u2019s comments, calling them \u201cpretty accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust because the game isn\u2019t as maybe physical as it used to be in some ways doesn\u2019t mean that there\u2019s still not going to be a physical play here and there,\u201d Bednar said. \u201cI think you have to be, as a player, prepared for it. You have to be equipped to be able to defend yourself in certain ways.\u201d<\/p>\n Bednar illustrated a recent example. In a Dec. 5 Avalanche game against the Ducks, 22-year-old defenseman Bowen Byram<\/a> was rocked by Anaheim\u2019s Max Jones<\/a>, a result of Byram having his head down while carrying the puck.<\/p>\n Both players played a role in the unfortunate result.<\/p>\n It was a \u201cclean hit,\u201d Bednar said, \u201cbecause (Byram) holds onto the puck trying to make a play and he gets hit. Our guys took exception to it \u2014 which is fine, I\u2019m glad they do \u2014 but I think Bo, in that instance, has to expect to be taking a hit if you\u2019re going to hang on to it to try and make a skilled play that\u2019s going to set up a scoring chance.\u201d<\/p>\n The referees let that one go. But that\u2019s not always the case.<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to quantify whether there is more of a tendency to penalize hitters for clean checks nowadays \u2014 arguments about refereeing will present as long as there is a frozen rubber disc on ice \u2014 but players these days, particularly younger ones, are more apt to put themselves in positions that could be dangerous. That\u2019s just the way they\u2019ve been brought up.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re going to just go in there and put themselves in vulnerable positions because they know they can,\u201d Berube said. \u201cThere\u2019s just not a lot of big contact anywhere anymore. There\u2019s no fear or anything of getting hit in a position that you could get hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s only made an official\u2019s job more difficult, according to Dave Jackson, an NHL referee from 1989 to 2019 who is currently the rules analyst for ESPN. It\u2019s particularly trying for officials who have been around both before and after the crackdown on certain types of hits.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat made it tough on the referees was players turning their back when they go to get hit, and they get projected forward violently into the boards. As a referee, you have to decide how much of it was the guy making the hit, and how much of it was the player turning his back, and was it unavoidable. Was the guy already committed to the hit when the player turned his back? Back in the day, guys knew they were going to get hit when they were being followed into the boards, and they\u2019d do everything they could to prevent that hit.\u201d<\/p>\n And as younger officials join the league, they\u2019re more on the lookout for illegal checks to the head and hits from behind, because, like the players, they\u2019re used to that sort of thing not being permissible under any circumstances.<\/p>\n \u201cFor newer officials that come in they have basically their whole career had the illegal check to the head rule,\u201d Jackson said. \u201cI think it becomes more second nature to them to be able to immediately pick up on that the head was contacted (or if) the head was the primary point of contact. But, it\u2019s never an easy call, and it happens in a microsecond.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, many of the changes in the NHL and developmental leagues were made in an attempt to reduce serious injuries to the head or spine. To hockey\u2019s credit, those types of hits aren\u2019t nearly as prevalent as they were a decade ago.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn.theathletic.com\/app\/uploads\/2023\/12\/19150323\/GettyImages-57605696-scaled.jpg\")
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\n Referee Dave Jackson avoids a collision during the 2006 playoffs. (Bruce Bennett \/ Getty Images)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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