Inside the NHL's player safety room on its busiest night of the season

Explainer

The NHL's player safety department monitored every incident across 16 games from its control room in Manhattan on Tuesday night, the busiest night of the season so far with all 32 teams in action. The Associated Press was given access to observe the intricate process of watching, vetting, logging and reporting questionable plays for potential supplemental discipline and head injury evaluation. The department, established in 2011, serves as the first line of defence for head injuries and the beginning of the process for suspensions and fines. Damian Echevarrieta, the NHL's senior vice-president of player safety, said the goal is for visitors to know the department sees everything, even if they disagree with the final decisions.

"For the most part, when people come in, they do leave with knowing at least one thing: We definitely saw what you think that we should see," said Echevarrieta. "Now, you might not always agree with our decisions, but the fact that we are on top of it and notice every single incident of every game, I think people really leave here knowing that." The room is equipped with five giant television screens and more than a dozen other monitors showing every goal, save, hit, penalty and injury. With 16 games part of ESPN's Frozen Frenzy, eight game-watchers were assigned to alert concussion spotters seated at the front of the room about any possible contact to the head.

READ MORE: Canadiens expect top prospects Hage, Zharovsky to be available late this season

READ MORE: Kochetkov's shutout gives Hurricanes 10th straight win in 7-0 rout of Jets

How does the room handle potential head injuries?

The vast majority of communication from the room involves calls to concussion spotters, who monitor for the need to pull players off the ice for evaluation. Spotters have a direct line to reach team medical staffs at the games. The first call of the night came at 6:33 p.m. to look at New Jersey's Jack Hughes high-sticking Detroit's Keegan Kolesar, though it was quickly cleared as a spotter concern. Just after 7 p.m., spotters were made aware of Florida's Lars Eller taking a puck to the face in Columbus and leaving to get stitched up. Later, the room kept an eye on Montreal's Noah Dobson throughout the night for any visible signs of a concussion. Game-watchers have access to Hawk-Eye camera angles from each end of the ice, a full-rink view from high above and the ability to isolate on a single player. Another safety task involves ensuring all players required to wear helmets in warmups are doing so, along with checking for mandatory neck guards on first-year players. When Anaheim's Roger McQueen was still helmetless several minutes into his rookie lap, player safety was ready to call the arena, but McQueen had his helmet on two minutes later.

What triggers a review for supplemental discipline?

Any time there is potential for further punishment, the room catalogs the incident in a report. The report details what happened, if a penalty was called, the players involved, any disciplinary history, the aggressor's next game and includes video clips. That report is sent to the entire department. A key incident occurred at 7:52 p.m. when Florida defenceman Uvis Balinskis was down on the ice after Columbus forward Mathieu Olivier speared him in the groin. Echevarrieta and his team noted it before officials reviewed video and ejected Olivier with a game misconduct for slashing.

When George Parros, the retired enforcer who took over player safety decisions in 2017, deems something worthy of a possible review, he emails Echevarrieta and the rest of the room for thoughts to be shared just with him. Parros asked for input on the Olivier incident by 8:17 p.m., less than a half-hour after the play unfolded. On Wednesday, Olivier was fined US$5,000, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement. The league determined a suspension was not warranted in part because Olivier had no disciplinary history.

How did the system for player safety develop?

Echevarrieta has been with the NHL since 1999, working in hockey operations in Toronto under Colin Campbell. That Toronto situation room still does daily monitoring for goal reviews and coach's challenges. About a decade and a half ago, the league had the opportunity to copy many of the same time-tested procedures for use in player safety. "It was already a time-tested system that we put into place, and it's worked really well," Echevarrieta said. Repetition over the years has helped the process run smoothly even on chaotic nights like Tuesday. Interspersed in the job responsibilities is plenty of hockey talk, such as noting Matthew Tkachuk assisting on brother Brady's natural hat trick or the spoiler that "[Alexis] Lafrenière scored again!" At multiple points, 10 games were going on simultaneously, with Echevarrieta switching the sound to the most important broadcast and overseeing action that included 136 penalties, 110 goals and five fights. The room was amazed to hear Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon had fought for the second time this young season.

Who is welcome to visit the player safety room?

General managers, coaches and players are welcome to visit the department, which is located a five-minute walk from Madison Square Garden where the New York Rangers play. Echevarrieta wants anyone working in hockey to see how the process works. "MSG's right down the street," Echevarrieta said. "If you're in town, especially if you have a day off in between an Islanders and a Rangers game, the door's always open." The room's primary mandate remains monitoring every game for player safety and discipline, ensuring no incident goes unseen.

With files from The Globe and Mail, CBC News and Yahoo Sports