Elliotte Friedman’s 30 Thoughts is often hiding some tiny piece of news that isn’t important, but makes you nod your head and say “yeah”. This week there was one little piece that did that for me:
27. Another thing that was discussed at the GM meetings: how players wear their visors. Don’t know if this will become a point of emphasis, but Leo Komarov’s is apparently too high.
Yes, Leo Komarov does wear his visor awfully high, below I’ve highlighted where the bottom of his visor is:
Wearing a visor properly has never been Leo’s style, in this National Post article from the summer of 2016, Leo says he’s always been trying to find ways around wearing one:
Ryan White says the visor is a bothersome piece of equipment. During his time in the minors, it would get in the way, so he would flip it up on the top of his helmet.
The king of this technique is Leo Komarov. Tilting his shield upwards, essentially defeating its purpose as a protective item, is the hit-happy Toronto forward’s trademark.
“I’m always trying to put it up,” Komarov said. “Some people don’t really like it, like the referees in Europe, so I had to keep it down and try (playing that way before coming to the NHL in 2012). There’s always stuff you can do to get around it.”
He held this opinion in 2013 as well, during the lockout while he was still in the KHL (Tomas Kmec for TLN):
Q: If I recall, you and Niklas Kronwall were the only guys wearing a visor like a hat. In the KHL and following the IIHF rules, you must wear a visor. Visors are becoming mandatory in the NHL but last year they weren’t. Why did you wear it like that? Weren`t you concerned about getting injured because of that?
A: No. I have a problem with a visor, I don’t see through it, so I have to put it up a little bit more. The refs are all over me (smile) but I don`t do it for fun. I just need to see better.
You know what could help you see even better Leo? A working pair of eyes. Put your visor down, Maple Leafs fans know all too well what could happen to a player who isn’t taking protection seriously.
If the NHL is indeed going to start cracking down on improperly worn equipment, how will they deal with it? A pre-game inspection by the refs? Will they blow a play dead and assess a penalty?
Will the much bigger equipment issue of players wearing their chinstraps too loose come up at a future GM meeting? That is something I think should be at the top of the list.
