Lindros says removal of Red Line to blame

**Jimmie** · Dec-29-2011, 12:36 PM

08:42 AM ET 12.29 | Eric Lindros, by virtue of his own experience, and by dint of timing for his return to a Flyers uniform, will be asked about concussions. If Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby is the face of the concussion issue today Lindros was the poster boy in the late 1990's and early 2000's. In all Lindros had about eight concussions in his NHL career and he has some thoughts on why the issue is so prevalent now. "The game's has gotten too fast," he said. ... "That speed comes at a price for the players' safety, he said. "The red line is out and the game's quicker. It's inevitable there's going to be more (concussions). They knew that when they took the red line out. So they sacrificed that for speed."

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**Kipper** · Dec-29-2011, 03:19 PM

Lindros is obviously still suffering from some concussion symptoms.

One of the main reasons that the red line was eliminated was to inject more Offense into a game that was bogged down by ****ty teams running ****ty Trap systems making the playoffs and winning Cups while elite talent and teams were stuck getting screwed in the Neautral Zone.

Eliminating ther Red zone was a means to help break the Trap while not eliminating the defense completely. On top of that, if you go and look at every head shot and hit out there I guarantee that few of them are caused by the elimination of the red line. Steckel's shot on sid had nothing to do with the red line elimination. Letang's either.

**Shaker100** · Dec-29-2011, 03:41 PM

I can see his point. The game has changed but the rinks also need to be widened like International/Olympic rinks. More room for skating means less tight spaces and less chance to line someone up. I still say Sid was victim of poor ice conditions in the Winter Classic. Sid was skating tentatively and he never skates tentatively The poor ice evened things out allowing scrubs like Steckel more chance to level an elite player.

**Kipper** · Dec-29-2011, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by Shaker100

I can see his point. The game has changed but the rinks also need to be widened like International/Olympic rinks. More room for skating means less tight spaces and less chance to line someone up. I still say Sid was victim of poor ice conditions in the Winter Classic. Sid was skating tentatively and he never skates tentatively The poor ice evened things out allowing scrubs like Steckel more chance to level an elite player.

The biggest issue with wider rinks in the NHL is that it will cost seats and that costs teams $$$$$ or at least that is the complaint. The thing is, the IIHF rink is the same length but wider by 15 feet. Extending 15 feet equally is about 7.5 feet per side or probably about 5+ rows per seats on a side? And then you are talking about your seating then starting basically at the top of the glass when you figure in the inclines of the seats. I don't remember how the lower bowl was constructed but I believe it's all concrete except for at least one of the ends

**BlackNGoldRules** · Dec-31-2011, 02:33 PM

Originally Posted by Kipper

The biggest issue with wider rinks in the NHL is that it will cost seats and that costs teams $$$$$ or at least that is the complaint. The thing is, the IIHF rink is the same length but wider by 15 feet. Extending 15 feet equally is about 7.5 feet per side or probably about 5+ rows per seats on a side? And then you are talking about your seating then starting basically at the top of the glass when you figure in the inclines of the seats. I don't remember how the lower bowl was constructed but I believe it's all concrete except for at least one of the ends

It's probably never going to happen. It would cost them in attendance, plus it would cost them some serious bucks having to somehow reconstruct every arena to handle the larger playing surface. There's no way they'd be able to just keep the same seat configuration in each arena because, like you said, the seats would end up starting at the top of the glass which could be dangerous unless they find a way to make the glass higher, which could also be dangerous since the stability of the glass would be compromised going up that high from the boards. They'd have to tear up the lower bowl of every arena and reconstruct them so that the seats can still go to the bottom of the glass. They'd have to make the slope a little steeper to do it. No way I see the NHL taking on something like that. It would cost millions to do it on top of the money they'd lose from smaller attendances.