U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal continues to call out NHL commissioner Gary Bettman over the league's stance on concussions.
Bettman recently penned a 24-page letter in response to questions from Blumenthal, stating, above all, that no definitive link had been made between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE.
"Common sense and mounting scientific evidence show there are warning signs and clear links between brain trauma and concussions and degenerate neurological disease later in life, including CTE," Blumenthal said Monday, according to comments published by the Hartford Courant.
"I'm here to call on the NHL to be on the right side of history and health and to show a sustained and serious care for their players in addressing this problem."
Bettman rebutted Blumenthal's claims in his earlier letter, detailing the NHL and NHL Players' Association's attempts to inform players on the "seriousness" of head injuries and concussions as well as the potential lasting effects. He pointed to the creation of the NHL/NHLPA concussion program in 1997, along with repeated efforts educating players on the health risks posed by concussions.
Bettman added that "a causal link between concussions and CTE has not been demonstrated."
"As it is, to this day — let alone prior to the start of the NHL/NHLPA Concussion Program in 1997 — no medical study has ever concluded that concussions suffered by players who have played hockey at the NHL level can or do cause degenerative 'brain diseases,"' Bettman wrote.
The NHL is currently facing a class-action concussion lawsuit. The commissioner said "misconceptions" had been propagated in the media by the plaintiffs' counsel.
Blumenthal, who is up for re-election in November in Connecticut, dismissed such claims.
"This message has nothing to do with the litigation that's ongoing; it has everything to do with what's right for the NHL to do," said Blumenthal. "I'm also calling for the NHL to cease its attacks on the media, media consultants and lawyers and others who are advocates or activists. It ought to take seriously the warning signs and links between concussions and degenerative brain disease later in life. This disease is tragic, debilitating and deadly and the NHL ought to adopt practices of safety and health that befit this iconic and treasured sport."
He said the NHL should focus on funding research.
"I'm calling on the NHL to fund an independent foundation that will support this research because they are a role model, for good or ill," he said. "They lead by example. Their dismissiveness of the evidence already sends a message to others who play and coach and support hockey."
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