Why is the NHL skeptical about hockey and CTE?

No wonder the former enforcement officer is suffering from CTE

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman speaks to the media at Scotiabank Arena on February 2, 2024.

“I think the science is still lacking,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. He told sportswriter Frank Seravari. In the wake of former player Chris Simon's suicide death, specifically in response to Simon's family's claims that Simon suffered from CTE during his time in the league. Unfortunately, Simon is not the first enforcer to develop chronic health problems after his playing days ended. Derek Burgard, who died in 2011, was one of the most high-profile cases of former players found to have suffered from CTE.

But NHL leadership seems bound and determined to ignore the growing body of evidence that a career of repeated blows to the head can be dangerous to a player's health. Last year, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman suggested it was a coincidence that former players were posthumously diagnosed with CTE.

“There were cases where players who played the game became isolated.” [who] I had CTE,” he told NPR. “But that doesn't necessarily come from playing in the NHL.”

If a group of people in a similar job all suffer from the same symptoms, most people are likely to come to the same conclusion: that something is very wrong with the job in question. It is no exaggeration to say that we have reached a conclusion.publications like washington post and new yorker Former players write about hockey's influence on their post-NHL lives. last year, times We profiled former executive officer Chris Nilan, who is battling his health and searching for answers. Perhaps the darkest aspect of all this is that there is no easy way to diagnose her CTE throughout a person's lifetime. Postmortem diagnosis is the only definitive way to diagnose this condition.

As NBC Sports' Mike Florio pointed out, Daly and Bettman echo the sentiments of their NFL peers, who also maintain that the science is not settled here. That said, a 2023 Columbia University study showed that executors tend to die younger than their peers, which seems pretty awful.

This skepticism by people who should know better seems to be torn between pro wrestling's “kayfabe” and fears that admitting the potential for danger will expose the league to a rash of lawsuits. It feels like. But it's not clear what's more worrying. The idea that the people responsible for governing the sport at the highest level don't care about the long-term health of the athletes, or the people who pay to watch the sport, whether it's the NFL. , the NHL, UFC, or other organizations are well aware of the impact they are having on the lives of their athletes and simply don't care.