Deep Blue Sea: Does NHL Player Safety keep players safe?

Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty ImagesI don’t know about you, but it feels like every game there’s another suspension being handed down from above — regardless of whether or not the consequence was accurately apprehended. After last season’s player safety debacle involving Tom Wilson’s judo flip on Artemi Panarin and the public calls for George Parros’ departure, referees and player safety are under a microscope.

This season has sparked a new focus on cross-checking. It’s a toll handed down from the league, where referees are making more of an effort to crack down. Where it used to be the third or fourth cross-check that would be called, referees are calling the first (or … second) in an…