Just before Christmas, a time when the NHL is traditionally going quiet for the holidays, saw what may be a watershed moment for the NHL and the way it acts towards its players. It's often said that revolutions start with the smallest of gestures, and in this case that small gesture could be Steve Downie writing a succession of 140-character grenades which he then lobbed right into the middle of the NHL's complacency bubble. It remains to be seen how far the shockwaves spread.
Downie essentially took on one of the NHL's sacred cows in Don Cherry, arguing that he and people around him are at least partly responsible for some of the most toxic aspects of hockey culture, namely the acts of violence around hitting and elements of the toxic masculinity that emphasises hockey player toughness above all else.