NHL Insider Says 'One Day' We Could Ban Checking
This one wasn't on my NHL bingo card...
On Monday's episode of 32 Thoughts: the Podcast, NHL Insider Jeff Marek provided a major dose of controversy. Player Safety is always a crucial topic among General Managers and should be a top priority no matter what.
Marek, however, suggested that the NHL could explore the fairly extreme option of eliminating "board hitting" altogether.
WHAT?!
Checking - especially on the boards - is a core principle in hockey, and eliminating it would alter the very identity of our sport. This notion seems bizarrely extreme and extremely bizarre.
Physicality, in general, is on the downswing in the NHL as a new era of speed & skill continues to sweep over the game. Which is objectively a positive step.
The high-flying hockey of the modern age is exciting enough, and - kind of like everything - the scarcity of physical play increases its value in the sport. Supply, demand - check-onomics? Patent pending.
| POLL | ||
MARS 20 | 467 ANSWERS NHL Insider Says 'One Day' We Could Ban Checking Would you still watch the NHL if "board hitting" was banned? | ||
| Yes | 138 | 29.6 % |
| No | 286 | 61.2 % |
| Results | 43 | 9.2 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
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YESTERDAY
JUNE 4, 2026
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| G | A | PTS | ||
| Brett Howden | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Shayne Gostisbehere | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mitch Marner | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mark Jankowski | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Seth Jarvis | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jordan Staal | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan Stankoven | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mark Stone | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Sebastian Aho | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| William Carrier | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Noah Hanifin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Tomas Hertl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Eric Robinson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Andrei Svechnikov | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Frederik Andersen | - | - | - | |
| Rasmus Andersson | - | - | - | |
| Jackson Blake | - | - | - | |
| Jalen Chatfield | - | - | - | |
| Dylan Coghlan | - | - | - | |
| COMPLETE STATS | ||||