With the NFL on record acknowledging a link between CTE and head injuries, it "puts the pressure" on NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to recognize that correlation, according to Greg Wyshynski of YAHOO SPORTS. Bettman following the death of former NHLer Steve Montador last year said, “From a medical science standpoint, there is no evidence yet that one necessarily leads to the other." Wyshynski wrote if Bettman "truly believes, and it’s the NHL’s position, that there is 'no evidence yet' that repeated [head] trauma in contact sports leads to CTE, one assumes the NFL domino falling would impact that" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 3/14). SI.com's Allan Muir wrote there is "just enough wiggle room in Bettman's statement to allow the NHL to continue down that cynical and self-serving path if it chooses." Since NFL Senior VP/Player Health & Safety Jeff Miller's admission "related only to football, there's nothing directly in what he said that can stop it, either." However, Miller's statement "poses an undeniable PR problem for the NHL." The "no evidence" angle has been a "tough sell from the start." Now that an NFL exec "has come clean, the NHL would look ridiculous by staying on the course of denial." Miller's remarks "could force the NHL into a more open discussion about the science of these injuries and what can be done to minimize the potential of them in the future." That is what the players involved in the ongoing concussion litigation against the league "would like to see" (SI.com, 3/15).
NOT AN ADMISSION OF GUILT: THE HOCKEY NEWS' Matt Larkin wrote if concussions caused by football are proven to correlate with CTE, it is "easy and obvious to make the same connection between hockey concussions and CTE." Bettman "might be wise to amend his position in a hurry." He can "safely do so, because the crux of the concussion lawsuit is not about what the NHL knows now -- or what the NHL is in the process of learning." It is "all about what the NHL already knew." Anything the NFL says "doesn’t further implicate wrongdoing on the NHL’s part." It makes for "ugly PR if the NHL doesn’t change its position, but nothing more" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 3/15).
