At the Competition Committee meeting in Toronto on Tuesday, the NHLPA contingent discussed the issue of grandfathering visors and informed the committee that, subject to NHLPA Executive Board and NHL Board of Governors approval, this is something the players are now in favour of implementing. This development comes following the NHLPA recently conducting a voluntary player survey of the membership regarding the use of visors.
Under the proposal, players who have played less than 25 NHL regular season or playoff games in their career by the end of the 2012-13 season, would be required to wear a visor. If given the green light by the NHLPA Executive Board and the NHL Board of Governors, the grandfather visor rule would come into effect for the start of the 2013-14 NHL season. The full NHLPA/NHL Competition Committee have agreed to meet next week to develop the transition rules regarding visor use.
The visor issue was just one of a multitude of player safety, rule and equipment issues that were discussed by the Committee at the NHL offices in downtown Toronto. The players have also agreed to test hybrid icing and shallower nets during the 2013-14 pre-season, as well as implementing the use of video replay when four-minute high sticking penalties are called, beginning with next season.
The NHLPA was represented at the meeting by players Ron Hainsey, Mike Cammalleri, Alex Pietrangelo, Cory Schneider and David Backes. Former player and current NHLPA Special Assistant to the Executive Director Mathieu Schneider chaired the meeting, which was also attended by other NHLPA staff, including Executive Director Don Fehr.