Much has been made of the random dangerous acts perpetrated by the NHL’s players upon each other, and in particular by the Philadelphia Flyers this season. But on Sunday night in Buffalo, the NHL — and anyone who plays the sport, for that matter — received a gruesome reminder of just how dangerous the game can be even on the most innocent of plays.

Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik was skating behind the Buffalo Sabres’ net, while teammate Olli Jokinen was upended by Sabres forward Clarke MacArthur in front of him. As Jokinen hurtled to the ice, his leg flew up in the air and his skate blade struck Zednik on the right side of his neck. Blood gushed from Zednik’s neck as he skated off the ice, and the entire arena was silenced by fear.

Luckily for Zednik, emergency surgery conducted on Sunday night left him in stable condition, and it appears that crisis has successfully been averted in Buffalo for a second time. Sunday’s incident was eerily similar to an injury suffered by then-Sabres goalie Clint Malarchuk back in 1989, when the St. Louis Blues’ Steve Tuttle’s skate sliced open Malarchuk’s internal carotid artery. The hero on that occasion was Sabres athletic trainer Jim Pizzutelli, a former army medic who had served in Vietnam. He rushed onto the ice, reached into Malarchuk’s neck, and pinched off the bleeding until doctors arrived to suture the wound. Amazingly, Malarchuk missed only five games as a result of the injury, but the NHL still wisely mandated that goaltenders wear neck protection moving forward, a directive that likely prevented many similar incidents.

Hockey is, at its core, a dangerous game. It’s played on a nearly frictionless surface, participants moving at speeds upward of 30 miles per hour, all of them carrying sticks and swatting at a hard rubber puck capable in its own right of delivering serious damage. When one considers the ever-increasing size, strength, and speed of the players, it’s a wonder that injuries such as Zednik’s (and Malarchuk’s) aren’t more common.

NHL players’ skate blades are kept extremely sharp, and they are potentially the most dangerous weapons on the ice. This is a key reason why the response to Chris Simon’s “stomping” incident earlier this season was so harsh; using the skate blade as a weapon is an intolerable offense. But in the case of an accident, as with Sunday’s incident, it’s clear that legislating against devious action only prevents part of the risk. “We are pleased by the positive medical reports on Richard and are hopeful for his quick recovery,” NHLPA head Paul Kelly said in a statement. “The NHLPA will review this matter in detail and will continue to ensure that our members are fully educated about all aspects of on-ice safety.”

It seems that mandating neck protection for all players would be the next logical step. While on the surface that sounds perfectly reasonable, there is a price to be paid for every additional step taken to ensure the safety of the players. With each passing innovation, the players feel as if they are more and more invincible, their armor protecting them from all perceived risk. And the recklessness with which they conduct themselves under that veil of invincibility only makes the sport even more dangerous for the participants.

To better understand this phenomenon, one need look no further than the implementation of face protection. Traditionally, Canadian-born NHLers have taken to the ice without any facial protection, while European-born players by and large wear visors to protect them from errant sticks and pucks. College players, who wear a full cage, receive the most protection of all.

Watching a typical college hockey game, one sees sticks come up quite frequently, but because all players are well protected, there isn’t much cause for immediate concern. Penalties for boarding, slashing, roughing, hitting from behind, and hitting after the whistle are all common. But devoid of the sight of a player holding his face after an opponent’s stick glances his cheek, college hockey officials aren’t particularly focused on high-sticking infractions.

Of course, when the best of these college players earn spots on NHL teams, they come from an environment where everyone is protected equally against high sticks to one where the protection is terribly inconsistent. Some skate with no protection whatsoever, while others have nearly the entirety of their faces protected by durable plastic shields.

And though those wearing visors believe themselves to be far safer, it’s not always the case, as clearly shown by the eye injury suffered by Montreal Canadiens forward Saku Koivu during the 2006 playoffs. Carolina Hurricanes forward Justin Williams’s stick went up underneath Koivu’s visor with great speed, and was effectively trapped in place by the visor. Williams’s stick caromed against Koivu’s face multiple times before it finally came loose, likely resulting in a far more serious eye injury than would have been suffered had Koivu been without any facial protection at all.

So here we are today, debating the merits of additional protection for NHL players. On the positive side, neck protection would significantly reduce the possibility of another injury like the one suffered by Zednik on Sunday night. But on the negative side, increased protection means a corresponding increase in the players’ sense of invincibility, and will likely result in more reckless on-ice behavior, conscious or otherwise.

Of course, there’s also the matter of the league’s marketability. With each increase in the level of protection, the players look more and more like armored warriors, their faces and personalities buried underneath layers upon layers of Kevlar and plastic. And though the goal — to eliminate injuries such as the one Zednik suffered on Sunday — is an admirable one, the associated cost should not be overlooked.

Gone forever are the days when Ron Duguay graced the ice at Madison Square Garden, the hair on his helmet-less head blowing freely as he skated his shifts. There was a greater familiarity of the players’ faces to the fans in the stands back then. Certainly that was a more innocent time, one when the dangers of concussions were much less known. But it was also a safer time, the lack of 21st-century protection forcing all players to show one another a lot more respect.

Today, the need for that respect has been largely mitigated by the seemingly endless high-tech protection innovations. With each passing day, we move further from the possibility of a mid-level hockey player like Duguay gracing the cover of a popular culture magazine (Andy Warhol’s Interview) or fronting a campaign for a fashionable clothing company (Sassoon). Last week’s news that Nike is planning to sell hockey equipment manufacturer Bauer (for less than half the $400 million paid for it 14 years ago) comes as no surprise. Indeed, hockey has slipped from the mainstream, and it’s hard not to wonder whether all these protective equipment innovations — ironically, many of them spearheaded by Nike/Bauer — didn’t ultimately do the sport more harm than good.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.