Former NHL player suspended after near fatal play

It seems this year, players cannot keep their skates under control has reports of more players being injured by skates hitting the neck and face area are increasing.

This all came to light of course when Adam Johnson, formerly of the Pittsburgh Penguins lost his life while playing in England. He suffered a blow to the neck from Matt Petgrave in which he died several hours later.

It appears now that another NHLer has been involved with the skate incident, this time he was the player who is the cause.




Martin Fryk, who spent time with the Red Wings, Kings and the Hurricanes was playing for his team the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers of the Swiss National League was controlling the puck near the boards when his out-of-control skate struck Lawrence Pilut in the neck area.

Luckily, Pilut was not seriously injured, but Fryk was hit with a 5-game suspension for a Swiss Disciplinary committee and fined 7600 Swiss Francs ($8744)

It's clear there needs to be more discipline with this type of issue and neck guards will become mandatory to some point soon. For now, organizations and coaches will need to keep preaching safety to players.