Capitals' T.J. Oshie Wearing Neck Guard vs. Islanders Following Adam Johnson's Death

Washington Capitals winger T.J. Oshie wore neck protection during Thursday night's matchup against the New York Islanders in the wake of Adam Johnson's death.

Johnson died after his neck was slashed by the skate of an opposing player in England's Champions Cup this weekend, an incident being investigated by authorities.

Oshie, 36, founded the company Warroad that has made cut-resistant turtlenecks and neck guards to offer protection for hockey players. Oshie reportedly is the second player to wear neck protection in a game after Rasmus Dahlin did so on Wednesday evening:

Oshie's teammate, Tom Wilson, started testing out the gear in Thursday's morning skate.

"I mean I was thinking about it," Wilson told reporters about wearing protection on his neck going forward. "There's cut-proof (material) pretty much everywhere else now. Wrists, ankles, Achilles, back of the socks. But not on the neck. So I thought that doesn't make a lot of sense. When that's probably the most important part."

A number of other Capitals also have tried out Oshie's Warroad gear, including Nicklas Backstrom, John Carlson, Nic Dowd, Nick Jensen and Darcy Kuemper, while Erik Karlsson, Lars Eller, Ryan Graves and Marcus Pettersson of the Pittsburgh Penguins wore neck guards during Thursday's practice.

Karlsson said Johnson's death on the ice put "a lot of things in perspective."

"We all have families and friends—we do this because we love to do this and we get paid well to do it, and stuff like that," he told reporters. "At the end of the day, we do it because it's a choice. I don't think anyone would keep doing it if it meant risking your life every day going out there. If you can wear a small piece of equipment to hopefully prevent something like that again, I think that's a win."

Neck protection—and whether it should be made mandatory by the NHL—has become an important topic of discussion around the NHL this week.

"I just wish these things never had to be made, and injuries like this would never happen, because it's so sad," Oshie told The Athletic's Mark Lazerus on Sunday. "It hits me pretty hard, just thinking about my kids. I could take one to the neck tonight. And for them to not have a father—it's just so sad and it makes me think twice about protecting myself and my neck out there. Whether it looks cool or not."