Sports
NHL player poll: Why most players say the league shouldn't mandate neck guards
Mandatory neck guards are coming to youth hockey in the United States.
Already required in Canada and many other countries, USA Hockey, which governs the sport at the amateur level in the U.S., has long held its line at “recommending” laceration protection — namely neck guards, but also cut-resistant socks, sleeves and undergarments.
The decision was announced Sunday and will go into effect on Aug. 1, about nine months after the issue was thrust into the spotlight when former NHL player Adam Johnson died of a skate cut to the neck during a game in England.
More NHLers have begun to wear neck protection in the months since, either regularly or to try to find something comfortable.
“You’re seeing more and more of it,” one player told The Athletic. “I wear the shirt for my wrists. I think you’re going to see more and more neck guards.”
As part of our NHL 2023-24 player poll, we asked those players what their appetite might be for a similar mandate, for neck guards and other cut-resistant equipment, at the pro level.
As you can see, for the majority — 78.45 percent of the 181 who were willing to respond to that question — it’s a no-go:
For many of the players, it comes down to personal choice.
“I think it should just be your own decision,” one said.
“Guys would be smart to use them, but I don’t think it needs to be mandatory,” another added.
“It’s their own risk, right?” said a third. “It’s their life.”
Some of the players voting no indicated that, for their part, they do wear neck guards and other cut-protective gear, including one who had been cut by a skate in the past.
“I wear it. It happened to me,” he said. “I think it’s up to you. I think that there (should) be no requirement.”
“I don’t think you should require them to, but I think it’s stupid not to (wear one),” another player said. “Why wouldn’t you?”
“We’re all big boys,” said a third. “I personally wear them. But being required to? No.”
One idea many players shared was to mandate laceration protection at minor and youth levels first, with the idea of eventually bringing it to the NHL as players get more used to wearing the equipment.
“In the NHL, I don’t think it should be required,” one player said. “But in minor hockey, I think it should.”
“If the NHL mandated it, I’d be OK with that,” said another. “But they should grandfather in everyone who’s used to not playing with it, like they did with visors.”
Some players indicated they’re not satisfied, at this point, with the engineering of skate-cut protection.
“I think we all know there’s an inherent risk, (but) I don’t think the skate-cut technology is where it needs to be for people to wear it comfortably,” one player said. “I don’t love the feeling of having stuff on my wrists. I tried the neck guard. I felt like it was so high and so tight. It would take a while to get used to.”
“You want guys comfortable with what they’re wearing.”
NHL teams have worked with manufacturers to provide options, and a number of players said that’s the right response.
“I think what they’re doing right now is perfect, providing more stuff,” one said.
“Should be provided, but not mandatory,” another said.
“I’m happy with it,” another said. “There’s lots of good choices. I wear the socks. After what happened to Adam Johnson, we’re all looking to maybe wear something more. That’s an eye-opener for everyone.”
With the popular sentiment among NHLers as it is, some simply said they don’t see a realistic path forward.
“I’d love to say yes, because I would love to never see anyone get cut ever again,” one player said. “But I think that’s easier said than done.”
“It would be hard to implement,” another said. “Maybe in the future.”
One player posed a scenario in which the league would mandate cut-resistant equipment for the neck, wrists and ankles for a trial period before deciding.
“Maybe if it was required for a short period of time, so everyone has to try them at least a little bit, I think a lot of guys would stick with it,” he said. “Everyone should have their own choice, but I wouldn’t be against it if they said yes.”
“I think everybody should try it,” agreed another.
Among the players answering yes, the idea of getting players used to it before making a decision was popular.
“Once everybody got used to it, I feel like no one would care to use it or not,” one player said. “Everybody would be used to it already. Obviously, when you grow up, you use it. At one point, it’s like you don’t even notice that’s there. If it was always a thing, I think guys wouldn’t care at all to use.”
“We grew up playing with it,” another said. “It never bothered me or probably anyone else, either. If they brought it back, I think it’s a thing to get used to, and it might take some time, but if you do it in the summer, no one would be bothered by it once the season starts.”
“We did it in Sweden,” said a third. “It’s easy to do it here.”
And most saying yes were in favor of phasing it in over time. New players coming into the league would be mandated, and eventually that’d be everyone.
“Maybe start at the youth hockey level and make it mandatory there,” one player said. “Kind of incorporate it over the years, sort of. I think (young) Canadian players might have to. In America, we didn’t have to.”
“I think you’ve got to grandfather it in just like they did with visors,” another said.
“I think that would be a good idea,” said a third.
(Top photo of T.J. Oshie wearing a neck guard: Patrick Smith / Getty Images)
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It’s NBA playoff time.
Let’s take a look at the latest NBA title futures at DraftKings Sportsbook as of May 2.
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NBA Finals winner 2025-26 season
Oklahoma City Thunder: -145 (bet $10 to win $16.90 total)
San Antonio Spurs: +370 (bet $10 to win $47 total)
New York Knicks: +900 (bet $10 to win $100 total)
Cleveland Cavaliers: +1800 (bet $10 to win $190 total)
Detroit Pistons: +2000 (bet $10 to win $210 total)
Los Angeles Lakers: +2800 (bet $10 to win $290 total)
Philadelphia 76ers: +3500 (bet $10 to win $360 total)
Minnesota Timberwolves: +10000 (bet $10 to win $1,010 total)
Here is what to know about the NBA title oddsboard:
West Update: The two teams favored to win the title both reside in the Western Conference: OKC and San Antonio. The Thunder swept the Suns in Round 1 and the Spurs gave up just a single game to Portland. Now, OKC gets L.A., which it swept in the regular season, and San Antonio gets a banged-up Minnesota, which the Spurs actually lost to in the regular-season series. A few uncertainties still exist in each series. Will Anthony Edwards be healthy enough to take the floor for the Wolves? How effective can he be? Will Luka Dončić return in time to impact the OKC-L.A. series? What about Jalen Williams returning for the Thunder? If the odds hold true — the Thunder are favored to sweep the Lakers and the Spurs are favored to sweep the Wolves — we will be staring at an OKC-San Antonio Western Conference finals.
East Update: The third, fourth and fifth teams on the title oddsboard reside in the East: New York, Cleveland and Detroit, respectively. New York was the only Eastern Conference team to make it out of the first round in fewer than seven games, as the Pistons, Cavs and 76ers needed do-or-die Game 7 wins to move on. Arguably the most impressive team of the bunch is the one closest to the bottom of the oddsboard: 7-seed Philadelphia. It overcame 2-seed Boston despite being down 3-1, winning Games 5 and 7 on the Celtics’ home floor. While Cleveland simply won four home games on its way to advancing, the top-seeded Pistons also trailed 3-1 against Orlando, before winning the final three contests of the series. New York is favored to beat Philly in five and Detroit is favored to beat Cleveland in seven.
The Lakers understand the daunting challenge they’re about to face against the defending NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference semifinals.
Lakers coach JJ Redick referenced the great Chicago Bulls teams that won back-to-back championships in 1996 and ’97 and the Golden State Warriors teams that won titles in 2015 and ’17 when talking about the Thunder after practice Sunday.
“The Thunder is one of the greatest teams ever in NBA history,” Redick said. “It’s just the reality. They’re that good. I think our guys recognize that and respect that, and we know what kind of task we have in front of us.”
The Thunder had the best record in the regular season at 64-18. They were ranked first in defensive field-goal percentage (43.7%), first in defensive rating (106.5), first in net rating (43.7) and second in points given up per game (107.9).
They have the league’s reigning most valuable player in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who is the leading candidate to repeat as MVP. He was second in scoring this season (31.1 points per game) and leads the postseason in scoring (33.8).
The Thunder just swept the Phoenix Suns in their first-round series. The Lakers eliminated the Houston Rockets in six games.
This season the Thunder beat the Lakers by an average of 29.2 points per game in sweeping the four-game set. So the Lakers are facing long odds to win this series, but they say they aren’t intimidated heading into Game 1 on Tuesday night.
“You can respect the team but you can’t fear them,” forward Jake LaRavia said. “You can’t come into the game fearing the opponent and then you’re just gonna come in and get punked. So, we respect how good this team is, but our goal is to win — win the games and win the series. So, our mindset stays the same.”
The Thunder have a reputation as a stingy defensive team — they were called for the seventh-fewest fouls per game (19) this season.
“They’re top five in every category that’s disruptive-base: steals, blocks, turnovers forced, all that stuff. And they don’t foul,” Redick said. “They somehow do all of that without fouling, which is one of the most remarkable things, I think, in NBA history.”
Gilgeous-Alexander is famous for drawing fouls. He took nine free throws per game this season, third-most in the league.
“Nobody’s been able to stop him all season,” Redick said. “So, you can hope and pray.”
Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drives against the Lakers during a Thunder win on April 2.
(Cooper Neill / Getty Images)
The Lakers had their own weapon at the free-throw line, but it’s unclear when Luka Doncic might return from injury. The All-Star point guard hasn’t played since sustaining a Grade 2 left hamstring strain against the Thunder on April 2.
Doncic was coming off a magical month, becoming the only player in history other than Michael Jordan to score 600 points in March.
Redick had no update on Doncic’s status — he remains out indefinitely.
But the Lakers got by the Rockets with LeBron James leading the way. He averaged 23.2 points, 8.3 assists and 7.2 rebounds in the six games. And star guard Austin Reaves, who also was injured in the April 2 game against the Thunder, returned to help beat the Rockets.
Still, few think the Lakers, who advanced past the first round for the first time since 2023, can get by the deep and talented Thunder.
“You could say nobody thought we were going to get past Houston, but everybody in this building believed,” Reaves said. “It’s the same mindset going into this. We obviously know the team that we’re about to face and how good they are and the problems that they can create for 48 minutes. So, we’ll have to lock in every single day, film, whatever it could be, to continue to get better and and pay attention to all the little details like they do.”
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Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, the WWE tag team known as the New Day, reportedly departed the company on Saturday as part of the latest string of releases.
Kingston and Woods became fan favorites as they formed New Day with fellow superstar Big E. But after Big E was sidelined with a serious injury, the two continued their tag team prowess in the ring. Kingston and Woods were four-time tag team champions as a duo and held the belts eight times when they were with Big E.
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Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston attend Netflix Tudum 2025: The Live Event at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, Calif., on May 31, 2025. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Fightful Select and BodySlam both reported the departures of Kingston and Woods. The two were moved to the alumni section of the WWE website.
Kingston had a ton of success as a singles competitor. He captured the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 35 over Daniel Bryan as part of the “Kofi-Mania” era where he received a ton of fan support on his way to his first title. He was also an intercontinental champion four times and a United States champion three times.
Woods joined WWE in 2010 after stints at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Woods won the King of the Ring tournament in 2021.
Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston of the New Day celebrate their win during WrestleMania 41 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nev., on April 19, 2025. (Craig Melvin/WWE)
As a tag team, the two were considered to be one of the best in WWE’s history. They captured their last titles at WrestleMania 41 and turned heel soon after that. The two lost their tag titles in June and Woods was injured during the year. Kingston formed an alliance with Grayson Waller in the interim before the departure.
Elsewhere, Tonga Loa and JC Mateo reportedly departed the company as well.
Loa first appeared in WWE in 2009 before departed in 2014. He re-appeared most recently in 2024, joining forces with Solo Sikoa and the newly formed MFT faction.
MFT’s JC Mateo, Talla Tonga, Solo Sikoa and Tonga Loa face off with Jimmy Uso during Saturday Night’s Main Event at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga., on July 12, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
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Mateo joined WWE in 2025, also backing up Sikoa in the faction. He was also a tag team champion with Tama Tonga before eventually dropping the belts to Damian Priest and R-Truth in March.
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