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A22 Thursday 31 March 2016
SPORTSThursday 31 March 2016
Declassified NHL memos, e-mails detail concussion debate
DAVE CAMPBELL fighting.
JOHN WAWROW
AP Sports Writers The declassified docu-
Unsealed NHL documents
in the concussion lawsuit ments also indicated an
brought by former players
reveal a snapshot of an increased focus by NHL of-
internal debate by league
officials over head injuries ficials on concussions and
and a deeper concern
about the impact of fight- fighting as early as 2004,
ing than what had been
publicly shared. following Vancouver’s
In some emails, among the
298 documents recently Todd Bertuzzi’s vicious on-
declassified in the case
by U.S. Magistrate Judge ice attack on Colorado’s
Janie Mayeron, NHL Com-
missioner Gary Bettman’s Steve Moore.
tone comes across as de-
fensive regarding criticism The league established
directed at the league for
its handling of player safe- what became its concus-
ty and the fighting culture
that has existed on the ice sion subcommittee in 1997.
for decades.
Other exchanges, howev- It wasn’t until 2010 that the
er, suggested an NHL lead-
ership that’s conflicted league introduced Rule 48,
over a complicated issue.
In a January 2009 ex- outlawing illegal hits to the
change between se-
nior vice president Colin head. More than 300,000
Campbell and Canadian
TV broadcast reporter Bob documents and 2.5 mil-
McKenzie,
Campbell said he might go lion pages were originally
public with a recommen-
dation that the NHL get rid marked protected by the
of fighting or at least at-
tempt to reduce it. league, and Mayeron
In a September 2011
thread between Bettman agreed with the plaintiffs
and Brendan Shanahan,
who succeeded Campbell that some should be pub-
as the league’s discipli-
narian, Bettman said that lic.
his comments to CBC-TV
revealing the league was In the NHL’s defense of
scrutinizing fighting “went
too far.” He called the situ- keeping the material
ation “sensitive territory,”
citing the need to be “very sealed, Campbell wrote
careful.”
The material was obtained that his “colorful, crusty
by The Associated Press
from counsel for the plain- and sometimes crude” lan-
tiffs and first reported by
Canadian sports network guage would be appreci-
TSN.More than 100 former
NHL players have joined ated only by “hockey peo-
the class-action lawsuit
against the league, alleg- ple” and would embarrass
ing it had the resources to
better prevent head trau- the league if revealed.
ma, failed to properly warn
players of such risks and Campbell didn’t pull many
promoted violent play that
led to their injuries. punches in the emails that
The plaintiffs’ primary re-
quest is medical monitor- were released.
ing for the roughly 4,800
In one November 2008
exchange with Bettman,
Campbell criticized Toron-
to defenseman Mike Van
Ryn for sustaining a con-
cussion, broken nose and
hand after being checked
from behind and into the
boards by Montreal’s Tom
Kostopoulos.
After calling Van Ryn
“soft,” Campbell suggest-
ed, perhaps sarcastically,
In this March 23, 2016, file photo, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell gestures during a press confer- that Van Ryn should be the
ence at the NFL owners meeting in Boca Raton, Fla. The NFL has demanded The New York Times
retract a story that called the league’s concussion research flawed and likened the NFL’s handling one punished for putting
of head trauma to the tobacco industry’s response to the dangers of cigarettes. In a letter from
its law firm to the general counsels of the newspaper and obtained by The Associated Press on himself in a bad position.
Tuesday, March 29, 2016, the league said it was defamed by the Times.
Kostopoulos was issued a
Associated Press
three-game suspension
and Van Ryn played just 13
more games that season.
living former players, plus conference. run, I’d prefer these things He later cited Kostopoulos’
additional unspecified re- “The selective released not be public. They’ll be
lief. The 133-page master leaking of documents out a distraction at best, but I hit as the reason he retired.
complaint is packed with of context may cause don’t think they impact the
anecdotes of former play- some people to scratch rest of the case.” In one message to then-
ers suffering from a variety their heads, a couple of The unsealed material
of neurodegenerative con- other people maybe to for showed a pattern of atten- Anaheim general man-
ditions they’ve tied to hits a brief moment be a little tion by the league to media
to the head they experi- embarrassed about salty coverage of concussions. ager Brian Burke about a
enced on the ice. language or the like. But I’m In one email exchange
Spokesman Frank Brown very comfortable with our with NBC Sports executive December 2006 fight be-
said Tuesday the league’s record,” Bettman said at Sam Flood in March 2007,
stance has not changed the time. “I think in terms of Bettman said he was an- tween Washington’s Don-
from Bettman’s comments us doing our business on an noyed over then-broad-
on Jan. 30 during an All- ongoing basis and the fact caster Brett Hull criticizing ald Brashear and Aaron
Star game weekend news that we have the league to the league for eliminating
Ward of the New York
Rangers, Campbell called
Brashear a “bully” and
Ward a “punk.”
In that same e-mail, Camp-
bell referred to critics of the
NHL’s handling of safety is-
sues as “tree huggers.”
