| | OTTAWA -- Toronto Maple Leafs president Ken Dryden expects
visors to become mandatory equipment in the NHL within the next 10
years.
One of Dryden's players, defenseman Bryan Berard, might lose
sight in an eye that was injured earlier this month. He was not
wearing a visor.
Dryden, the former Montreal Canadiens goaltender, said the
introduction of visors is inevitable.
"The only question is when, not if," he said. "And if the
only question is when, then why not sooner rather than later?"
Dryden remembers reluctantly donning a mask for the first time
while playing college hockey at Cornell University. He said he had
avoided wearing a face mask for the same reason players are
shunning visors these days.
"I thought it was too hot, too heavy," he said.
Those concerns disappeared with use.
"And the same would happen for visors," Dryden said, adding
that 12 of the NHL's top 25 players currently wear them.
Berard, the 1996-97 NHL rookie of the year with the New York
Islanders, Berard sustained a cut cornea, detached retina and a
fracture of the orbital bone surrounding the right eye when the
blade of Marian Hossa's stick hit him during Toronto's game March
11 with the Ottawa Senators.
The 23-year-old defenseman was released Thursday from Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center in New York,
where he underwent surgery Tuesday.
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