Eric Lindros is the poster child for concussions.

	Phaneuf laid a perfectly legal hit on Olesz. Should it be legal?

During a game between Canada and the Czech Republic at the recent World Junior Championships, Canadian defenseman Dion Phaneuf leveled Czech prospect Rostislav Olesz with a massive open-ice hit. Phaneuf got called for a 5-minute major for elbowing and got ejected from the game. The call was obviously poorly handed out because Phaneuf hit him with a shoulder. What happens too often is that people look at a big hit and call it clean if an elbow isn't involved. What the hockey community needs to be looking at is if the hit delivered from a shoulder is directed at the head. As a result of taking a shoulder to the head from the Calgary Flames' bruising prospect Olesz collapsed on the ice, suffered a concussion and hyper-extended neck. Tough break for a draft-eligible player tagged as a top-5 prospect. Olesz may escape unscathed in the long run from this hit but still, just imagine if his career ended right there due to a major concussion. Or to bring it closer to home, what if Sidney Crosby was the recipient of a hit to the head and saw his entire promise end before it could be fulfilled? The blame shouldn't be directed at Phaneuf or Scott Stevens or Derian Hatcher, because they're simply hitting people within the rules of the game. It's the rules of the game that need to evolve.

The NHL should follow the NFL's concerted lead to curtail the number of concussion inducing hits. The NFL rulebook addresses the matter of hits to the head accordingly:

Striking an opponent on head or neck with forearm, elbow, or hands whether or not the initial contact is made below the neck area is a 15 yard penalty and ejection from the game if deemed flagrant.

The NHL doesn't have any rules in place that deal directly with shots to the head, which is the equivalent of serving a Corona without the lime. It is this very reason why hockey players are not conditioned to avoid making contact to another opponent's head. As long as an elbow isn't thrown, the NHL sees no problem with it and perhaps with all the NHL's problems this is just yet another glaring omission to add to the list.

	The horror of Jason Allison's injury.

Jason Allison is just another in a long line of prominent stars that have succumbed to playing the frustrating waiting game. The Kings pivot suffered an apparent concussion last January and has not played since and it is unclear when and if he'll be able to play his next game. Allison's initial diagnosis was a concussion, which was later changed to whiplash. Regardless of the diagnosis, Allison still exhibited all the symptoms of a concussion: dizziness, nausea, depression, blurred vision, which can present themselves during the slightest effort at physical exertion. Fast-forward a year later and Allison's situation has become even more confusing and more frustrating. Allison's problems are no longer physical so much that they are now chemical. The chemical levels in his head condition him to continue experiencing all the same symptoms even though physically the doctors have all ruled him physically healthy. His brain thinks he's still hurt because he was in a certain state for such a long time. Think about it this way; if you were subjected to hear Celine Dion sing for one week straight and then the music was turned off, I'm sure your ears would be ringing for a few days afterward because the pain would be so vividly ingrained in your head. Poor Jason Allison. Subsequently because the doctors have ruled him clear to play it has created a rift between Allison and the Kings who also have Adam Deadmarsh sitting on the sidelines while he recovers from his own concussion related problems.

Everyone knows about Eric Lindros' and his younger brother Brett's turbulent troubles with concussion trouble, but prior to that another big superstar fell victim to head trauma. In the first month of the 1996 season Pat Lafontaine, then of the Sabres got blindsided by an ugly elbow to the side of the head from Penguins defenseman Francois Leroux. The injury forced Lafontaine to the sidelines for the rest of the year and despite a short-lived stint with the Rangers where Lafontaine picked up another concussion, his career was essentially finished with the first big blow. The NHL's response to the incident? Let's just say that Guns 'N Roses comeback attempt had a bigger impact than the justice the NHL handed out.

I'm sure that some of the rate of concussion occurrences has to be attributed to improved medical detection equipment and increased attention to such injuries. In years past a guy who received a concussion simply was told that he "got his bell rung" or "got shaken up a bit". Now with players' salaries soaring and the rate to insure players growing ever increasingly expensive, a serious head injury can be a serious financial problem for teams and the league.

The answer for the NHL is simple. I've said it before and I'll say it again: When in doubt, follow the NFL's lead. The NFL is currently the 50 Cent or Colin Farrell of sports and can do no wrong.