On the Carolina Hurricanes’ website earlier in the week was a photo of Tuomo Ruutu, with the headline, “Stitched-up Ruutu still a happy Cane.”

It was a picture from before his injury, with no visor on his helmet to protect his face.

Ruutu played his first game for Carolina Tuesday and took a whack against the New Jersey Devils that required 40 stitches.

Think about that – 40 stitches. To see the visual is terrifying. The stitches traverse his face, from the top of above his left eye to across his nose and below. His left eye was swollen shut Wednesday, but even then, he played Thursday.

So he took a 40-stitch hit on Tuesday, couldn’t see out of his left eye on Wednesday, and played Thursday.

Thursday night, of course, he wore a visor.

This whole incident reminds us how ludicrous it is that NHL players aren’t forced to wear visors. The Players Association has argued that it should be a choice left to the individual players.

In this sport, this sort of has gone on for years.

Ever since snow first appeared in Canada, hockey players have said wearing a helmet wasn’t manly.

Or wearing a visor wasn’t manly.

But the whole macho routine is ridiculous. Hockey players are fast, powerful athletes who don’t need to prove their toughness to anyone. What they do need to prove is they have intelligence to protect themselves in a violent game.

So far, that hasn’t been the case.

Even the American Hockey League now mandates that players wear visors. Of course, once they reach the NHL, they can take the visors off.

Toughing it out is a critical lesson in sports. You get hurt, you keep going. You learn to shake off the fastball that nailed you in the shoulder, or get back on the field after that linebacker knocked you down.

But there’s a difference between playing hurt and risking a serious injury. The eye is a delicate, and irreplaceable, part of your body, not some muscle that just bruises.
There’s nothing macho about losing your sight.

How the NHL and its players can continue a culture that fails to see that is hard to grasp.