One year removed, as the league's general managers met again this week at the Boca Raton Resort and Beach Club, the league had a chance to revisit player safety.
"I think the rule changes are working," Richards said yesterday, as the Flyers coincidentally faced-off against the Panthers in nearby Sunrise. "With the pace of the game, you're going to have concussions no matter what kind of rules you put in.
"But I've done it myself, probably three or four times this year, where somebody has been in a vulnerable position and I've let out and eased up to not make a crushing hit."
Commissioner Gary Bettman outlined a five-step plan on Monday at the meetings. Brendan Shanahan, the NHL's vice president of business and hockey development, will spearhead a committee with Rob Blake, Tampa Bay GM Steve Yzerman and Dallas GM Joe Nieuwendyk to investigate the issues.
A new, revised concussion protocol will force teams to remove symptomatic players from the bench to have them reviewed by a medical doctor - not a team trainer - complete with a SCAT (sports concussion assessment tool) test before a player can return.
Teams with multiple suspensions due to questionable hits will be fined.
These changes are little consolation to Penguins general manager Ray Shero, who has been missing Sidney Crosby because of postconcussion symptoms for nearly 3 months. Crosby skated for the first time since early January on Monday for 15 minutes.
"It doesn't change the way we feel about head hits being out of the game, zero tolerance for them," Shero said. "At the same time, things moving forward from the last couple of days are going to be a positive step. I don't think there's enough blanket policy for head shots. There's a gray area on some of these hits."
The GMs had little interest in instituting a blanket policy on head shots.
