NHLPA to form new CTE committee, union president announces
NHL Players’ Association Executive Director Marty Walsh announced a new CTE advisory committee at an event on Friday in Boston.
The committee will look at chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, and the damage that concussions can have on the brain.
“The long-term health of NHL players is of paramount importance to our membership,” the union said in a statement. “To this end, the NHLPA is in the process of forming a player committee that will be focused on learning more about chronic traumatic encephalopathy). The committee will be guided by leading medical experts in this field to help players better understand CTE.”
In the crowd, at an event at the Concussion Legacy Foundation, were the families of 12 NHL players who were later diagnosed with the degenerative brain disease CTE.
“The fact that the NHL Players’ Association is starting a CTE committee is huge for every player in the hockey community,” said Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation.
The brain disease now can only be found only after death.
It has been found in some people who have had a history of repetitive brain trauma, experts said.
Patients can experience mood, behavior and memory problems.
5 EYEWITNESS NEWS covered a concussion lawsuit by former NHL players back in 2017, in which more than 100 former players — including 17 Minnesotans — sued the league.
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The league eventually settled the lawsuit.
“We are getting very close to diagnosing it in living people,” Nowinski said.
That step could help with detection and prevention, Nowinski added.
Meanwhile, the NHLPA move is something Nowinski feels could lead to possible changes for the game.
“I think it’s an urgent call to action to continue to try and find safer ways to play contact and collision sports,” Nowinski said.
Back in 2016, an NFL official told Congress a link exists between CTE and football-related head injuries.
The NFL settled a billion-dollar concussion lawsuit with former players and families.
The NHL hasn’t come out as firmly on CTE.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.