There are various reasons given for the recent rash of concussions in the NHL: speed, players size, equipment, policy leading to more identification, fighting, league competitiveness, etc.

However, the latest injuries of star players resulting from collisions with team mates points to another problem - traffic congestion.

There are two reasons for this:

1) players size and speed: the days of the perfect hockey specimen at 5' 10" , 180 lbs are long gone; players today are bigger, stronger, faster, & better trained. There is also the issue of the speed of the game with 40 second shifts the norm.

2) the real reason for traffic congestion is better trained coaches applying tactics that control the flow of player movement on a small ice surface. For example, I was up close at the Sens-Van game where the Sens had difficulty penetrating the slot for scoring chances. The Canucks are a well trained & experienced team. They completely befuddled the Sens with a variation of the left wing lock, with the result that when the Sens crossed their blue line, three-quarters of center ice was blocked by 5 Canucks & the Sens were herded into a single lane down one side of the ice. It got worse. Once they entered the Canucks zone, 5 Canuck players converged on one half on their defensive side of the ice in that lane & the puck was retreived & up the ice they went.

OK, so I may be simplifying , complicating the situation, or just don't get it, but maybe you can agree that there is a lot of congestion on the ice and that the result of these tactics is traffic control which probably leads to collisions with your own players.

The solution of course is to play the NHL game on the international ice surface so that there is more room to avoid the traffic congestion.

Will it happen? No! It is not even being discussed.

Well, maybe. It will take the players association getting serious about injuries, & the owners & GM's getting serious about managing their human resources.

Will you still be a fan of the game when the league finally decides to give up a few rows of seats & build new arenas of the proper size?