To Protect & Serve

When we last saw Mighty Duck captain Paul Kariya in a regular-season game at the Arrowhead Pond, his arms were raised in celebration after scoring his second goal of the game Feb. 1 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

A nanosecond later, he was on his backside, screaming at Blackhawk defenseman Gary Suter, “What the . . . was that?”

Kariya missed last season’s final 28 games because of post-concussion syndrome caused by Suter’s cross-check to his jaw. He also was sidelined for the Nagano Olympics and, in the days since his injury, his future in hockey has been questioned again and again.

Kariya returns to the Pond tonight, recovered, better protected and not giving his four lifetime concussions much thought as the Ducks prepare to play the Boston Bruins.

After all, he will be wearing a better-padded helmet, hoping to prevent another concussion.

He also has the company of two of the NHL’s best enforcers, Stu Grimson and Jim McKenzie, whose presence has deterred physical play against him in the new season’s first four games.

Plus, the NHL says it’s out to curb headhunting this season. The new get-tough policy hasn’t been officially called, “the Kariya rule,” but it might as well be.

“[There will be a] stricter standard of supplementary discipline for any deliberate action by a player that is either directed at the head of an opponent or results in an injury to the head of an opponent,” Colin Campbell, NHL vice president of hockey operations, wrote in a training camp memo to all 27 teams.

It should be noted that a new helmet, new teammates and new rules would not have prevented Kariya’s last two concussions, which were caused by blows to his jaw.

But in the interest of gaining the best possible protection against future injuries, Kariya and team doctor Craig Milhouse traveled to Montreal last March so the standout left winger could be fitted for his new and improved helmet.

Actually, it’s no different on the outside from the CCM model he has worn.

Inside, there is 25% more padding. And besides a tighter chin strap that runs from the helmet shell near the temples to beneath his jaw, there also are secondary straps that come from behind his head toward the jaw.

“It stops the helmet from coming off,” Kariya said. “My helmet has always been the proper thickness. [The new one] wasn’t that much of a change for me. It’s a little bit heavier, but I’ve totally gotten used to it.”

There’s no guarantee it will prevent another concussion, however. Suter’s cross-check caught Kariya flush on the jaw, as did the elbow defenseman Mathieu Schneider, then of the Toronto Maple Leafs, threw at Kariya on Nov. 13, 1996.

“Helmets are terrific, but there’s a certain sense of invincibility that the helmet and the whole armor confers,” James Kelly, a Chicago neurologist who has examined Kariya and other NHL players suffering from concussions, told Hockey Digest. “But it’s potentially quite damaging because it [offers] very limited [protection]. The brain is a gelatinous organ inside the skull that moves when impacted, even if it’s cushioned minimally by foam rubber and plastic outside the head. The forces are still applied.”

Still, the recent attention paid to concussions and the prevention of such career- and life-threatening injuries hasn’t changed everyone’s opinion about the need for better helmets.

In fact, trainer Greg Smith and equipment manager Mark O’Neill were among the first trying to persuade Kariya to be fitted for a new helmet last season.

“Everyone’s a grown man in this league and can make their own decisions,” Kariya said when asked why every player doesn’t wear a better helmet. “Some guys are old enough that they probably never wore helmets as kids. [But] I’m sure the next generation of players will wear helmets and face shields.”

Helmets have been required for players entering the league after June 1979. But the league and the NHL Players’ Assn. agreed only last season that players under 25 must wear helmets that meet the Canadian Standards Assn.’s requirements for durability and absorption of force. Older players were allowed to keep their substandard helmets.

And rest assured, there are more than a few flimsy “brain buckets” being worn in the NHL. Right wing Teemu Selanne said he’s heard from other players that the helmet worn by New York Ranger Wayne Gretzky would be unsafe even for recreational in-line skating.

“I can’t believe there’s guys playing with such bad helmets,” Selanne said. “I bet there are guys who could get a concussion after scoring a goal and the guys come to pat him on the head [in congratulations].”

How do veterans get away with it?

“I think they make you sign something or other,” said right wing Tomas Sandstrom, a veteran of 15 NHL seasons.

Sandstrom’s uncertainty about the regulations indicates there is still a way to go in a league that still condones the deployment of enforcers to protect skilled players such as Kariya, who had 17 goals in only 22 games last season.

Grimson, a veteran of five NHL teams who began the season with 1,528 penalty minutes, already has proved his worth to the Ducks.

When Washington Capital tough guy Craig Berube hit Kariya with a clean check Oct. 10, Grimson delivered a swift payback. Grimson jumped Berube after a faceoff, pummeling him in a lopsided fight.

Although he is a finesse player, Kariya successfully lobbied for management to acquire Grimson and McKenzie during the off-season. Kariya said last month he’s in favor of removing the instigator penalty for fighting.

“Let the players decide it on the ice,” he said.

However, he also likes the steps the league has taken trying to stop illegal head shots.

“I think they’re starting to address it,” Kariya said. “It’s something the league has to address. If you have a situation where a guy is going after another guy’s head, he’s got to be punished. A two-game suspension isn’t going to do the job. If the league starts handing out longer suspensions and bigger fines, hopefully, it will be out of the game because we don’t need that in the game of hockey.”

TONIGHT’S HOME OPENER

Ducks vs. Boston

Site: The Pond

Time: 7:30

TV: FSW2

FIT THE BILL: The Mighty Ducks need an identity at home, their coach says. Page 5

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Protecting Kariya

Paul Kariya of the Mighty Ducks, who suffered his fourth concussion of his career last season, has been fitted with a specially-designed helmet to provide more protection from head injuries. Here’s how the new headgear differs from what Kariya has worn in past seasons.

New impact technology using two types of foam padding absorbs high- and low-energy impacts.

U-shaped attachment hooks on the back of skull, improves stability of helmet, minimizing forward-backward rotation on head.

Seven vinyl nitrile foam plugs absorb more frequent low-energy impacts. Air flows freely around plugs.

Inner lining of polypropelene absorbs high-energy impacts.

Source: Martin Laperriere, CCM The Hockey Company

Graphics reporting by PAUL DUGINSKI / Los Angeles Times