St. Louis Blue forward Andy McDonald has been the victim of headshots and he's not happy with what's he's seeing this year's Stanley Cup playoffs.
McDonald sat down with TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun on ESPN.com and offered up his frustration with the lack of change in the style of play among NHL players.
"I just think you watch a game and is it really better than it was a year or two years ago?" McDonald told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "Is there less head shots? Certainly the playoffs this year has been a revelation that not much has changed. Guys are still targeting the head and really putting other players in danger and at risk for serious injury. And that's frustrating for a player that's gone through a significant amount of time with that type of injury."
McDonald thinks stiffer suspensions are needed to make players change therir way of thinking when they bear down on opposing players.
"On the suspension part of it, there's really not a deterrent," McDonald told ESPN.com. "If guys were suspended for 20 games, then I think things would change. I think guys would all of sudden be cautious when it came to elbowing somebody in the head, or hit somebody when he's unsuspecting or in a vulnerable position. It's a difficult issue. I think the league is trying to get it right, but it's a work in progress.''
While the NHL Players' Association and the competition committee are viable avenues to initiate change, McDonald feels that the issue is getting all the players on the same page when it comes to making player safety a priority.
"I think there's such a varied group of opinions among the players about what to do," McDonald told ESPN.com. "I don't think the guys delivering the hits, have they missed time, have they experienced six or seven months of headaches? That's the issue that the players need to get educated about and what they're doing to each other. We need to come together as a group and decide, are we going to continue down this road and have health problems still 5-10 years from now? Or are we going to make a concentrated effort to get together and stop this?''
McDonald has missed more than a full season to concussion issues over his career, including 51 games this season.
