New Jersey Devils General Tom Fitzgerald Makes changes to the rink after his son’s neck was cut into ice skate during a hockey game.
“They rushed him straight into the dressing room. All we got was,” Bleeding is under control and he’s on his way to the hospital, “says the 56 -year -old Fitzgerald in an interview with Espn Posted on Tuesday, March 18. “And they had a team of 12 or 14 people who were waiting for him when he got there. My wife was a mess. But I was cautiously optimistic because he stayed on the ice. I didn’t want this to any parent.”
Tom’s son Casey Fitzgerald is the captain of the Hartford Wolf package, who is a NHL development team for New York Rangers. During the game in December 2024, Casey was playing. Until the injury was obvious at the beginning when Casey was getting off the ice, the enemy player indicated that his neck was bleeding.
“They showed (the play) and there was another angle they told me. I didn’t want to see that angle,” Tom recalls. “The only angle I saw was the one who (before) I watched and really couldn’t see (cut). The more I talked, the more I started to suffocate a little, I just thought how lucky we were. Now I’m suffocating.
NHL player Anthony Richard was involved in an incident with a freak of ice when he took a skate in the face. As the Rangers in New York confronted the flyers in Philadelphia on Thursday, January 23, Rangers defender K’ander Miller inadvertently kicked the flyers forward Richard, 28 years old. At an instant replay of staff, spread online, (…)
Casey ended up Getting 25 stitches and made a full recovery. He returned to the rink three days later. While Casey is fine, Tom has a new perspective. Hockey CEO does not want another parent to go through what his family has done.
“We are lucky,” Tom said. “But why don’t players think a big picture against just, it’s about (their) career today? If they ever thought of their parents who look at what we are looking at, they would think differently.”
From the incident Tom took action to prevent prevention The problem of safetyS Tom is the only GM of Hockey of the NHL Sustainable Committee. In addition to Tom, the group includes Senior Vice President of the NHL of Hockey Operations Chris KingVice President of Hockey Operations Paska’s genderMembers of the NHL Players Association and team equipment managers.
As a member of the committee, Tom helped to come up with ideas on how to protect players.
“The first thing I thought about was the chin guard,” Tom explained. “If you can require players to have the rule with two fingers (on their chin coverage), would it stop Kevlar’s chin security (the worst of him for Casey)? I don’t know if this would prevent all this, but just similar ideas. And there is a prototype that is done as we talk.”
Johnny and Matthew Gadra’s father, Guy Gadra, hit the ice with the flyers in Philadelphia. Guy, who is a coach of his sons, grew up, serves as a guest coach during a Flyers training camp in Vorges, New Jersey, on Monday, September 23. He was invited by chief coach John Tortorella, who attended Johnny’s funerals and (…)
While many protective equipment is not mandatory For athletes Currently, Tom has offered the men a perspective on the thinking of anxiety parent.
“My message was simple,” Tell the players that you don’t want your parents to potentially go through something like that, “he told The Outlet. “(It’s) scary. Put as much protection as possible, because at some point you will stop playing and you will have to live for the rest of your life. So live.”
