from Mark Spector of Sportsnet,

The speed of the game has changed everything, to the point where it is becoming time to ask the question: Has the game become TOO fast? If Gretzky-like magnificence is rendered moot by the speed and size of checkers, is the game better off? Or worse?

Sidney Crosby could, for argument’s sake, be even better than Gretzky. But the fact he is forced to perform every skillful act at top speed makes his failure rate far higher. Bouncing pucks at 2013 speed, compared to 1980s speed, are two entirely different things. And we wonder: Have individual skills risen at an equal rate to the speed of the overall game?

We have plenty of time for that debate when it comes in accordance with scoring points and making plays. Where the speed of the game and mounting injuries are concerned however, the NHL is quickly approaching critical mass. “[It] is something that needs to be taken into consideration when we make rule changes, or equipment changes,” Steve Moore, whose 2003 injury at the hands of Todd Bertuzzi had nothing to do with the in-game dynamics, said on Wednesday. “At times, the speed of the game does require that players are not going to be able to perhaps think about the long-term effects of a body check that they’re making in a split second.”

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