The American Hockey League announced that they will require cut-resistant neck protection for all players and on-ice officials starting this fall.
This next step in player protection comes after the AHL required players and officials to wear cut-resistant socks and wrist sleeves last year. Scott Howson, league President and CEO, announced Friday that the AHL Board of Governors had added neck protection to that mandate by unanimous vote.
The American Hockey League’s Board of Governors has unanimously approved the mandatory use of cut-resistant neck protection by all its players and on-ice officials, beginning with the upcoming 2024-25 season.
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— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) August 23, 2024
The move to require neck guards comes after the death of former NHL and AHL player Adam Johnson, whose neck was cut by an errant skate blade during a game while playing for the Nottingham Panthers in late October last year. Since then, cut-resistant protective equipment has been a major topic of conversation in hockey.
The IIHF made neckguards mandatory at all levels of their men’s and women’s competitions last December. They were followed by USA Hockey doing the same a month later.
One of the central issues surrounding cut-resistant gear was that players found it uncomfortable to wear. Last season, NHL general managers discussed how best to ensure players know that the technology behind the gear has advanced and is available to them.
Washington Capitals forward TJ Oshie has been one of the NHL leaders in the space, wearing a protective turtleneck from his own Warroad brand in games last season. He also had some of his Capitals teammates, like Tom Wilson and Connor McMichael, testing the waters.
However, The Athletic’s 2023-24 player poll of 181 NHL players showed that 78.5 percent of respondents were against requiring neck protection at the highest level. Introducing this mandate in the AHL, a league full of young, future NHLers, could make the cut-resistant gear more popular and simply regular.
“I know we’ve put a huge emphasis in development camp in getting everybody in cut-resistant everything and putting it in the minors and making sure when our drafted players go back, we have provided them and educated them,” Utah HC’s Bill Armstrong said last November. “Kind of breeding it in so when they get to the NHL, they’ll wear it.”
