Trouba vs Kadri Hit

In the Flames game against the Rangers on February 6th, 2023, Jacob Trouba laid a crushing hit on Nazem Kadri. By all definitions, a legal hit. I attached a few photos of the set up and the follow through here. The hit is on Youtube, embeded.

I think of situations like this and how as a strength coach I can serve the athlete to prepare for, what can be described as, simply part of the game. Do we work to strengthen the neck muslces and protect against the whiplash? Kadri is a full sized player, so maybe the time he has put into preparing his body protected him from serious damage in this hit. Is the take away to prioritize a strong, lean, hockey shape that can protect the athlete from hits like this one? There is an argument to be made for agility in this situation as well.

The answer most useful in the ecology of pro sports is likely a combination of all of these. The truth is that hits like this happen, so a comprehensive approach to building a robust athlete will be the best defense against injury.

Regardless, that is a gnarly hit.

Trouba Sets up the hit

Kadri goes horizontal as Trouba finishes the hit