15 Most Painful on-Ice Injuries in NHL History

The injury suffered by Boston Bruins forward Dan Paille was just another one of the most painful injuries suffered in the history of NHL.

The NHL has had its share of painful injuries and no matter what the league does to keep the game as safe as possible, there will continue to be injuries that will happen that might not be preventable.

It is surprising that there are more recent injuries on this list rather than older injuries considering the safety measures that are taken in today's game.

A word of caution: some of the videos in this list could be considered hard to watch.

With that out of the way, let's get the list underway.

Patrick Thoresen

Injury: Slap shot to the...nether regions.

Ok, so this isn't really an injury, but any man will tell you that suffering anything to that region will hurt a lot. Now, make that anything a slap shot from Mike Green and it hurts even more.

Braydon Coburn

Injury: Slap shot just above the eye—required 50 stitches.

Another case of just getting in the way at the wrong time. It's amazing that this type of injury doesn't happen more often the way NHL players clog the front of the net nowadays.

Darryl Boyce

Injury: Laceration of the nose.

Judging from the video, this doesn't look very painful, but if you've ever seen the picture, you know that had to hurt.

Max Pacioretty

Other than Paille's incident, this is the most recent injury on this list. As the longest video in this list, I will let it do most of the talking.

I will say one thing, however. In terms of intent, I believe that Chara fully intended him to put him into the stanchion. He did not mean for the injury to happen.

Eric Lindros & Other Concussion Victims

Injury: Concussion.

Whenever someone brings up the topic of concussions, they will always find their way back to this hit. In many ways, this is the blueprint for a blindside hit.

Other players, such as Sidney Crosby, Patrice Bergeron, Pat LaFontaine have all suffered horrible concussions, and while not viewed as painful on the ice, these players go through months and months of issues that affect their lifetimes even after their careers are over.

Steve Yzerman

Injury: Broken orbital bone and scratched cornea.

One of the few star players on this list, it makes you think what would happen if a superstar's career was suddenly ended.

It could have happened to Sidney Crosby with his recent concussion, but if Steve Yzerman's career had been ended, Detroit would have lost one of its best players ever.

Kevin Bieksa

Injury: Severe calf laceration.

The first injury on this list that involves getting slashed by a skate, this is the lowest because of its location. I'm not suggesting that having a skate blade slice through your calf isn't painful, but the incidents ahead in the list are far more painful in my opinion.

Kurtis Foster

Injury: Broken left femur.

This type of injury is getting more and more common nowadays and is another kind of injury the league could easily prevent by changing the icing rule.

Kurtis Foster might be the biggest name to suffer this injury so far, but who knows how many more defensemen will be injured this way before the league takes action?

Steve Moore

Injury: Three fractured neck-vertebrae and concussion.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to include this on the list because the lawsuit is still yet to happen in Canada, but the fact is that Moore suffered a horrible injury and that is what this is about, so it has to be on here. Perhaps not just even from the Bertuzzi hit itself.

Ace Bailey

Injury: Fractured skull.

This might be the first career-ending injury that was widely known around the NHL. The hit that Eddie Shore laid on Irvine "Ace" Bailey ended with Bailey landing on his head. It was unknown whether he would survive. Fortunately, he did.

Bryan Berard

Injury: Retinal tear and detached retina.

I remember watching this game when it happened. Only being 11 years old at the time, I have forgotten most of the details, but I remember feeling that something was wrong and I thought I had just witnessed an end of a career.

Fortunately, Bryan Berard fought back and made it back to the NHL two seasons later.

Bill Masterton

Injury: Brain hemorrhage.

January 13, 1968. That was the day that Bill Masterton suffered a two-on-one hit that led to his death two days later.

Richard Zednik

injury: Severed external carotid artery.

Richard Zednik's career almost came to an end at the hands of a teammate. Olli Jokinen tripped over then-Buffalo Sabre Clarke MacArthur and his foot clipped Zednik in the neck. Zednik rushed to the bench and was rushed to the hospital.

Trent McCleary

Injury: Collapsed lung.

Another player who made the sacrifice of blocking a shot and taking it in the worst spot possible. The fact that he is able to speak today is a testament to the work the doctors did in order to save his life.

Clint Malarchuk

Injury: Severed internal carotid artery.

Ok, this video is not meant for the squeamish. I'm just going to let the video do the talking because there is no way to describe the way this injury went down.