NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, who has stated in the past that there is "no proven link" between repeated concussions and CTE, declined to respond during his state of the league address yesterday when "asked if he still holds that opinion," according to Helene Elliott of the L.A. TIMES. Bettman said, "I'm not going to start another news cycle. There's nothing new on the subject." Elliott notes at least seven late NHLers have been "diagnosed with CTE," and a class-action lawsuit "filed by more than 100 former players alleges that the NHL concealed information about the risks of head trauma in the sport." NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly: "This is not the commissioner's view. It's the science view. So all we're doing is reiterating what the scientists have concluded, which is there's not enough information to draw that link" (L.A. TIMES, 5/29).
PLEADING IGNORANCE: TSN.ca's Rick Westhead noted on the morning of Sept. 10, 2015, Bruins Owner Jeremy Jacobs walked into a lawyer’s office in downtown Buffalo, "prepared to be grilled for some seven hours about his ownership." According to a 350-page transcript of his deposition, on "at least two separate occasions in the days before his deposition," he had met with NHL lawyers to "prepare for questions about the league’s concussion lawsuit." Jacobs was among five NHL owners who "testified under oath about the league’s approach to repeated head trauma." Their depositions "offer a glimpse into how hands-off they say they are when it comes to issues such as player health and safety, how they collectively oppose a prohibition on fighting and head hits, and how, even with the threat of a massive court judgment in the case, they say they know next to nothing about long-term neurological disorders such as CTE." But Jacobs "wasn’t the only NHL team owner who testified he was in the dark about CTE." In a deposition on Sept. 2, 2015, Capitals Owner Ted Leonsis testified he had "heard of the disease but said that 'it’s in the news around football.'" Kings Owner Phil Anschutz was also asked in a Sept. 29, 2015, deposition about his "knowledge of the disease." He said that he "wasn’t aware" (TSN.ca, 5/28).
