Mark Borowiecki and the NHL's storied indifference towards player safety

If you had to pick the most beloved player on the Senators a few names may come up. Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, Jean-Gabriel Pageau. But perhaps somewhat surprisingly, it wouldn't be long before Mark Borowiecki came up. The local kid who was picked in the 5th round in 2008 has gotten a chance to live out his childhood dream for parts of the past 7 seasons. He's not really a kid anymore though, at 28 years-old, Borowiecki may be better described as a veteran by now. Boro has been in and out of the lineup over the past few seasons under Guy Boucher, and while there are many very smart people who seem to agree with not playing him every night, there is something about the Smiths Falls Bears alumnus that is impossible not to like. Unless, of course, he's just steamrolled you with one of his many, many hits. Maybe it's because he's the hometown kid. Maybe it's his undeniable toughness and determination. Maybe it's because his grin, which seems to become more gums by the day, reminds Sens fans of Chris Neil. Maybe it's all of those wrapped into one. The point is, Mark Borowiecki is one of the most beloved players in Senators history.

Which would explain the collective gasp followed by deafening silence around the Ottawa valley Sunday night as Mark Borowiecki, a man who makes a titanium wall look frail, laid eyes-closed, motionless, on the ice.

At first, nothing is special about the play. A defenceman with an aggressive pinch is in a footrace for the puck as it glides down towards the corner. The players look at one another as they prepare to bump together and battle for the puck. 

And then everything goes terribly wrong. Brendan Smith jumps the gun, Borowiecki goes sputtering helplessly into the boards, hits his head and is out. A crowd gathers, refs and linesmen jump in, but the primary concern on everyone's mind is number 74 in the corner.

When he does finally get to his feet, there is collective uneasy sigh of relief. Smith is given 5 and a game for boarding, which may seem harsh for an everyday play gone terribly wrong, but with the Sens recent powerplay struggles you could've taken two blueshirts off for the remainder of the game and it wouldn't have mattered. New York killed it off, scored an empty netter and won 3-0. Handing the Sens their third straight loss since returning from Sweden.

The NHL has always lagged behind other sports leagues in almost every regard. They don't record anywhere close to the viewership and coverage the other big sports leagues in North America do. Especially south of the border. They don't market their stars and they can't decide on what 50/50 really means without cancelling all or most of a season.

But all of that is trivial in comparison to player safety, an area in which the league desperately needs to improve. The league has always reacted to serious issues instead of using any foresight. It took Joni Pitkanen breaking his leg on an icing call to get the league to finally implement new measures. Even though Don Cherry, among many others, had been warning about such an incident for years. Pitkanen never played another NHL game.

Paul Kariya was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame last week along with his good friend Teemu Selanne. Kariya was exactly a point-per-game player, with 989 in 989 games. However, nothing that he did will ever erase what hockey fans remember about him the most. Posting this video is almost superfluous because it is a moment that all hockey fans know all too well.

Paul Kariya returned and had the game of his life and nearly led the Mighty Ducks to a shocking upset in the Stanley Cup Finals. However, this was the beginning of the end for Kariya, as he would only top 30 goals once more and 20 twice, eventually retiring in 2010 at the age of 35. This devastating hit didn't cause any major changes in the way the game was played, it was merely a "hockey play". Hits like these were legal until one day when everything changed.

It was March 2010, Penguins and Bruins, in a play that has equaled, if not surpassed the notoriety of the Stevens on Kariya hit, Matt Cooke was the straw that finally broke the camel's back.

The hit didn't earn Cooke a suspension because it was, at the time, a legal hit. Another "hockey play". Savard returned to play 7 games in the playoffs, and 25 more the following season but hasn't played since.

The Stevens hit didn't end Kariya's career. Sure, we were robbed of some of his brilliance and he was forced into an untimely retirement, but he was still a high-end player for many years afterwards. But the Cooke hit really did end Marc Savard's career. He played a few more games but never should have.

The point is, Mark Borowiecki was hurt badly but will likely be okay. Players being hit without the puck, even without mal-intent, are an issue for the league, especially as the game gets faster and faster. Smith on Borowiecki may be a Kariya or even less dire. But make no mistake, if the league sits on their hands and shrugs this off, there will be a Savard incident with one of these plays and we will lose a great player.

Ask someone who the first player to score a hat trick in an NHL game was and many fans won't know. Ask who has the record for the most points scored in a game and you'll have better luck. Ask who the first goalie was to wear a mask regularly and the vast majority of hockey fans will know. Ask who the only player to die playing an NHL game was and nearly anyone will be able to tell you.

Bill Masterton died during the 1967-68 season after hitting his bare head on the ice. The league took swift and decisive action by immediately creating a trophy in his honour, which was been awarded every year since. Eventually, in 1979, the league made helmets mandatory, but only for players who hadn't yet entered the league. It wasn't until 1997 nearly 30 years after Masterton's  death, that every player in the league was wearing a helmet.

The hockey world always claims that Masterton's death was the only one to happen as a result of an NHL game. Yet this is not true. Because on May 13, 2011 the hockey world was shocked to learn that beloved enforcer Derek Boogaard, had died. Boogaard died from mixing alcohol with pain killers while recovering from a concussion suffered during an NHL game. After his death, Boogaard's brain was examined and high levels of CTE were discovered. Boogaard wasn't the only enforcer to die around that time. Bob Probert, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak all passed away within a couple of years of each other. All of them had various, well-known, and serious, issues.

It's hard to remember what a perilous time the early 2010s were for the league. The game was serving up some great moments; the Habs and Flyers simultaneous underdog runs, the Blackhawks' emergence as a modern day dynasty, and, of course, Sidney Crosby scored one of the most famous goals in international history as Canada beat their arch-rivals the Americans in OT on home soil to win gold. What may seem like an afterthought now, is how close that was to being one of the final moments in Crosby's career.

Sidney Crosby has been one of the most dominant players in the world for over a decade now but his career was almost cut drastically short. On New Year's Day 2011, the Pens and Caps were playing in the Winter Classic. When a play that may have begun to slip the minds of many hockey fans occurred.

This was the play that was the beginning of Crosby's concussion woes that had many around the league fearing that he may not play hockey for much longer. Sid was only 24 at the time. It's near impossible to imagine the past 5 or so years without Crosby in the NHL but at one point that was very close to becoming a reality. Fortunately for all involved, Crosby recovered and has been dazzling fans ever since.

The NHL likes to talk about player safety, but the reality is that nothing ever gets done. They stand back and wait for something to happen that would warrant a response. They don't ever seem to want to prevent issues before they happen. And even when they do, it often takes time to create any real change. The upcoming concussion lawsuit could forever change the way the league handles these sorts of things. Or, like the NFL's, it could mean a bit of cash changing hands and everyone going their separate ways. Seeing as the game is constantly getting faster and faster while the league drags it's knuckles far behind, my money's on the latter.