The NHL is cracking down on a risky trend in player warmups, and it's sparking debate across the league. Recently, teams have been ditching helmets during pre-game warmups, a move that directly breaks NHL safety rules. But here's where it gets controversial: some players see it as a harmless tradition or even a superstition to change their game-day luck.
Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has made it clear the NHL is officially warning teams against this helmet-free practice. According to Daly, the league is sending out a formal memo emphasizing that all players who joined the NHL starting with the 2019-2020 season or later must wear helmets during warmups, as mandated by Rule 9.6. This rule differentiates newer players, who must wear helmets, from veterans who are exempt due to being "grandfathered" in.
A notable example happened last Wednesday when the Ottawa Senators headed onto the ice at Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena without helmets during warmups. The Senators, desperate to break a losing streak tied to their six previous trips to that arena, reportedly made this decision after a team dinner. Forward Shane Pinto shared with TSN that the players thought the helmet removal was “pretty cool” and a way to change their luck. Interestingly, the Senators ended up winning that shootout 4-3, which fans might see as a validation of their superstition.
However, the same helmetless tactic didn’t bring luck for the San Jose Sharks, who also skipped helmets in Vegas but lost 4-3 to their division rivals. Forward Will Smith shrugged off any special reasons for the choice, just noting it was a casual team decision made on a lively Saturday night in Vegas.
Adding another twist, the New Jersey Devils took a different approach by wearing hats instead of helmets during warmups to celebrate defenseman Brenden Dillon’s milestone of playing 1,000 NHL games.
To clarify, Rule 9.6 from the NHL states:
“It is mandatory for all players who entered the NHL beginning with the 2019-2020 season or later to wear their helmet during pre-game warm-up. To be clear, all players who entered the League prior to the 2019-2020 season and who are currently playing are exempt from this mandate.”
The NHL implemented this helmet requirement in 2022 primarily to improve player safety. The league noticed rookies sometimes took the ice for warmups without helmets, continuing an old tradition but increasing risk. Similar to the visor rule, established veterans have been exempted as a nod to tradition.
This raises an important question for fans: Should player safety always trump tradition, or do these small rituals hold intangible value worth preserving? Are the exemptions given to veteran players a fair compromise, or an inconsistent loophole that undermines the safety message? Feel free to share your thoughts—do you side with the strict safety rules, or are you more sympathetic to these new, rebellious warmup practices?
