NHL News: Emails Reveal Discussions of the Link Between Fights and Concussions
The NHL's war against its former players about concussions allegedly suffered during fights in ice is getting uglier by the day, and this time, a bombshell is unveiled, wherein some top league officials are accused of acknowledging the link between fighting and concussions and other long-term health problems.
The emails, per NY Times report, were unsealed in court and contained messages between the officials that privately acknowledged that fighting may in fact lead to concussions, depression, and other long-term health consequences. The said emails were sent and received by Commissioner Gary Bettman and some of the league's highest ranking officials back in 2011. This is definitely a big help for the former players' side and a huge blow to the league, particularly because the NHL previously has stated publicly that they don't believe fighting in ice was the cause of the health issues.
The issue gained momentum when three former NHL enforcers died in a four-month span, particularly from May to August 2011, with all of them caused by suicide or due to depression while struggling to cope up with problems in their personal lives. At that point, the NHL was caught doing something that could have paved the way for the class action – they thought of eliminating fighting from the league, which in a way was a move that acknowledged the link of the fighting to that of health issues later on as the players retired from the sport.
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According to an ESPN report, the lawyer representing the former NHL players in the class action believes that the email exchange in 2011 is a definite proof that the league was already aware of the connection between hockey and the likelihood of developing brain trauma. It still isn't clear how this would affect the case for the league, and it will be in the hands of U.S District Judge Susan Nelson to oversee the developments of the case currently heard in federal court in Minneapolis. To date, there are over a hundred former players who are in agreement that the league is aware of the dangers of concussions in the sport and that they are liable for failing to educate players about it.
