Wild's Jason Zucker narrowly avoids having his throat cut by skate blade

Minnesota Wild winger Jason Zucker got a serious scare Sunday afternoon when the skate blade of Kings winger Kyle Clifford accidentally rose up and struck him in the throat.

The NHL has finally put to rest its debate about visors, but as we all know, there are still potentially life-threatening risks associated with playing hockey. Minnesota Wild left winger Jason Zucker got a scare in that regard Sunday when he narrowly avoided serious injury after L.A. Kings left winger Kyle Clifford accidentally kicked him in the face and had his skate blade graze Zucker's throat.

Zucker tripped Clifford during L.A.'s 2-1 win over the Wild, but as Clifford fell, his right leg kicked behind him and struck Zucker around the head and neck with his skate blade:

– image via Reddit user "bmac39"

Close examination of the play shows Clifford's skate hit Zucker in the upper chest before rising up and hitting him with a glancing blow to the throat. Short of wearing full facial shields and thick neck guards, there's no way players can guard against such a thing happening again. That type of danger was there before visors and it will remain there as long as the basic rules of hockey and the laws of gravity apply.