Some Numbers

Back when the Zednik incident occurred, there was a lot of commentary about how dangerous the NHL game could be and some lobbying for steps that should be taken to make it safer. Out of curiosity, I did a little math and did a little googling.There have been ~35,500 games played in the post-expansion NHL. Figuring 40 participants per game, that is 1.4 million man-hours of hockey. In that sample, we've seen one accidental death: Bill Masterton way back in 1968. The death rate is 0.7 per million hours of NHL hockey. He is the only player in NHL history to die as a direct result of an on-ice incident, and he'd probably still be alive today if he had been wearing a helmet.Here are some other rates for the general public, taken from this article:Bicycling: 0.26 deaths per million hoursDriving: 0.47 Motorcycling: 8.8Motorcycling is at least 12.5 times deadlier than post-expansion NHL hockey.Over its entire history, NHL hockey has been about as dangerous as driving a car in th...