Hockey Helmet - Helmets in The National Hockey League

Helmets in The National Hockey League

In August 1979, then president of the National Hockey League (NHL), John Ziegler, announced that protective helmets would become mandatory in the NHL. "The introduction of the helmet rule will be an additional safety factor," he said. The only exception to the rule are players—after signing a waiver form—who signed pro contracts prior to June 1, 1979. Essentially, this grandfather clause allowed hockey's veterans to choose whether or not they wanted to wear helmets but forced all new players to wear them.

The first player to regularly wear a helmet for protective purposes was George Owen, who played for the Boston Bruins in 1928–29. The last player to play without a helmet was Craig MacTavish who last played during the 1996–97 season for the St. Louis Blues. In 1927, Barney Stanley presented a prototype of a helmet at the NHL's annual meeting. It was quickly rejected. Other than George Owen a year later, the helmet didn't appear again until after the infamous Ace Bailey–Eddie Shore incident on December 12, 1933, as a result of which Bailey almost died and Shore suffered a severe head injury. After that, Art Ross engineered a new helmet design and when the Boston Bruins took to the ice in a game against the Ottawa Senators, most of the players donned the new helmet. The next game, though, most of the Bruin players didn't wear it. Eddie Shore was one of the players who did wear it, though. Shore would wear a helmet for the rest of his career.

In the 1930s, the Toronto Maple Leaf players were ordered to add helmets to their equipment. A few minutes into the first game with the new helmets, King Clancy flung his helmet off. The fans, media, and other players berated players who did wear helmets. A few players, such as Des Smith, Bill Mosienko, Dit Clapper, and Don Gallinger all ignored the stigma and donned helmets. Even Maurice "Rocket" Richard and Elmer Lach briefly wore helmets. Jack Crawford wore a helmet to hide his bald head and Charlie Burns and Ted Green wore them to protect the metal plates in their heads. Paul Henderson famously put on a helmet in the 1972 Summit Series after being hit in the head. All of the Russians in that series wore helmets. Helmets did not have the same stigma in European leagues that they did in North American leagues.

It was not until the death of Bill Masterton that the stigma started to change. On January 13, 1968 in a game between the Minnesota North Stars and Oakland Seals, two Seals' players, Larry Cahan and Ron Harris, hit Masterton, sending him flying. Masterton's head hit the ice hard. With blood running from his nose and ears, he was rushed to the hospital. Four doctors worked for 30 hours to try to save him, but were unsuccessful as he died of "massive brain injury". Eleven years later, the NHL mandated the use of helmets. By that time, 70% of players were already wearing them.