Montador's family sues NHL. Claims fighting leads to depression & addiciton

[sureLoss]

http://www.tsn.ca/family-of-steve-mo...s-nhl-1.406042

"During regular season NHL games, preseason NHL games, NHL practices and morning skates prior to NHL games, Steven Montador sustained thousands of sub-concussive brain traumas and multiple concussions, many of which were undiagnosed and/or undocumented," says the statement of claim, filed in U.S. federal court in Chicago on Tuesday. "The league induced him into continuing to play, and fight, in NHL games and practices."

The claims of Montador's family have not been proven and the NHL has not filed a statement of defence. Neither NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly nor league executive vice-president of communications Gary Meagher responded to an email seeking comment on the lawsuit.

"The NHL continues to ignore the lasting problems caused by multiple head traumas suffered by its players," Paul Montador said in a statement. "Tragedies like that of my son Steven will continue until the problem is addressed. The NHL knows, but denies, that years of repeated head injuries cause long-term brain problems."

"By promoting and, in fact, glorifying fighting, the NHL continues to perpetuate its message to players, coaches and fans that blows to the head should not be considered serious injuries," the lawsuit says. "The NHL knew that by eliminating staged fights from their game they would decrease drug addiction and depression in the men it enlisted in the barbaric role."

[N-E-B]

I get the argument but these guys make the choice to fight and knowingly pursue a career where this happens. They know the risks involved. Don't like physical play? Put your kids in Rec hockey. It's a shame these people are slowly destroying the physical aspect of the game.

[Erick Estrada]

Not surprised as I assume the Montador lawyers have been putting their case together. Those comments made by Colin Campbell that were recently unearthed by are going to be pretty damning for the NHL as it's fairly obvious he and some others high up in the NHL weren't taking head shots seriously enough. This is what happens though when a large league like the NHL hires clowns to run the show and Campbell was a total idiot.

[flamesfan1297]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I get the argument but these guys make the choice to fight and knowingly pursue a career where this happens. They know the risks involved. Don't like physical play? Put your kids in Rec hockey. It's a shame these people are slowly destroying the physical aspect of the game.

This is exactly what I was thinking, I just didn't want to be the first to say it,as we know this is going to be a a sensitive issue. Agreed that it's a shame what happened, however they know the risks and still chose to pursue it. I hope the NHL wins this.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I get the argument but these guys make the choice to fight and knowingly pursue a career where this happens. They know the risks involved. Don't like physical play? Put your kids in Rec hockey. It's a shame these people are slowly destroying the physical aspect of the game.

I can't believe I just read that.

[N-E-B]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I can't believe I just read that.

Why? You can't even hit in peewee hockey anymore. Like it or not, the physical aspect of the game is slowly but surely fading away. I don't think hitting is going anywhere anytime soon, but it wouldn't shock me if 20 years down the road the game is more like women's hockey where full on body checking is gone.

[Coach]

The game can be physical without bare knuckle boxing being involved.

[FireItUp]

I don't get it...I'm pretty sure every fight he was in was his choice.

[JoelOtto29]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

I get the argument but these guys make the choice to fight and knowingly pursue a career where this happens. They know the risks involved. Don't like physical play? Put your kids in Rec hockey. It's a shame these people are slowly destroying the physical aspect of the game.

Not to single you out, but, what? Hockey players knowingly pursue a career that leads to addiction, depression, and brain damage? Come on now. The issue here is precisely that players did not know that what they were doing for a living would lead to these kinds of permanent effects.

Physical play will hopefully always be a part of the sport. Becoming aware of the repercussions of that is only ever a good thing, so you can prevent it in the future.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by FireItUp

I don't get it...I'm pretty sure every fought he was in was his choice.

That isn't what the lawsuit is about though. They're not saying the NHL made him do it.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

Why? You can't even hit in peewee hockey anymore. Like it or not, the physical aspect of the game is slowly but surely fading away. I don't think hitting is going anywhere anytime soon, but it wouldn't shock me if 20 years down the road the game is more like women's hockey where full on body checking is gone.

So what? If it's been determined that peewee hockey players are at risk then so be it. Kids have enough issues to deal with these days growing up. Most of the major concussions players suffer come from blatant and borderline head shots or bare knuckle fights. The NHL has shown that they still don't have to stones to treat this issue the way it needs to be dealt with and that's with stiffer suspensions and fines. None of this 5 game crap and none of this preferential treatment for star players. If the league has to go down the path of no-hit the NHL has nobody to blame but themselves for not addressing the issue sooner and letting it escalate.

[flamesfan1297]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

Why? You can't even hit in peewee hockey anymore. Like it or not, the physical aspect of the game is slowly but surely fading away. I don't think hitting is going anywhere anytime soon, but it wouldn't shock me if 20 years down the road the game is more like women's hockey where full on body checking is gone.

Agreed. Personally I am a fan of hitting and think that the game would be boring without it. but it wouldnt suprise me if your right. The league should obviously try and get rid of the dirty hits and cheap shots, but if a guy is injured on a good clean check, then I see no problem. They know the risks of the game

[CalgaryFan1988]

Physical play and fighting are two different things.

Physical play, If done cleanly, is to take you out of the play.

Fighting is bare knuckles to the side of your head, leading to concussions, trauma, brain damage, etc....

apples and oranges.

[flamesfan1297]

Originally Posted by CalgaryFan1988

Physical play and fighting are two different things.

Physical play, If done cleanly, is to take you out of the play.

Fighting is bare knuckles to the side of your head, leading to concussions, trauma, brain damage, etc....

apples and oranges.

Not arguing with you, but if you take out fighting wouldn't that lead to more dirty plays and cheap shots? Right now after a dirty play or something along those lines, a teammate or the player himself well step up and fight. Then it's over. If they can't fight and settle it that way then what are they going to do? Dirty plays and cheap shots to get back at them likely. Isn't that more dangerous than a fight? I think so. IMO fighting still has a place in the game

[Coach]

Originally Posted by flamesfan1297

Agreed. Personally I am a fan of hitting and think that the game would be boring without it. but it wouldnt suprise me if your right. The league should obviously try and get rid of the dirty hits and cheap shots, but if a guy is injured on a good clean check, then I see no problem. They know the risks of the game

The argument is that the NHL knew the long-term effects of the repeated head traumas, particularly those involving de facto "fighters" in the game, and withheld that information from players and failed to have an appropriate to the mounting evidence against them. Not that "hey I got hurt out here and I didn't think that would happen!"

Either way, fighting is way down and on it's way out, so I think the NHL is likely to win, as it can't do things that have immediate impacts, but they have obviously done enough to render fighting a useless aspect of the game. The larger argument is whether or not they provided enough support for those who were told they had to participate in it or lose their jobs (not really much of a choice at that point), and/or those who end up with long term cognitive issues afterwards.

[Hockeyguy15]

I have some issues with these lawsuits against the professional leagues from players. They have a union that is supposed to act on their behalf which made up of players, yet we have seen on many occasions that this doesn't happen. Players are suspended for headshots, but yet the PA appeals it saying it's unfair. Then we also have the fact that after playing a lifetime of hockey, how do you pinpoint exactly when the damage was done?

In a sense I agree that players make a choice to play, and they should take responsibility for that. I also think they need to take responsibility for not pushing for more player safety as the PA isn't exactly helping their own situation there.

Now if the league was withholding medical information from players, then yes that is a huge issue. I don't think players can claim ignorance on the issue though as it's been common knowledge for years now that concussions have long term effects.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

I have some issues with these lawsuits against the professional leagues from players. They have a union that is supposed to act on their behalf which made up of players, yet we have seen on many occasions that this doesn't happen. Players are suspended for headshots, but yet the PA appeals it saying it's unfair. Then we also have the fact that after playing a lifetime of hockey, how do you pinpoint exactly when the damage was done?

In a sense I agree that players make a choice to play, and they should take responsibility for that. I also think they need to take responsibility for not pushing for more player safety as the PA isn't exactly helping their own situation there.

Now if the league was withholding medical information from players, then yes that is a huge issue. I don't think players can claim ignorance on the issue though as it's been common knowledge for years now that concussions have long term effects.

How many years? A lot of these cases are coming up from former players who had their primes in the mid-2000's or earlier. Concussion protocols have only began to play a big part in injuries for the last maybe 5 years.

[powderjunkie]

We have only known these things for the last 5, maybe 10 years. For a couple decades before that it probably should have been obvious, but it definitely wasn't known. And of course before that, it was just getting your bell rung, nothing more, nothing less.

It's worth noting that the severity of concussions way back then was probably a lot less despite (or perhaps due in part to the respect resulting from) lack of helmets due to the speed of the game and less physicality.

Remember when concussions killed Lindros' career? IIRC it was mostly regarded as a shame that he couldn't be a good hockey player anymore...it probably isn't a good idea to keep getting hit in the head so it's probably for the best. (starting to have an idea, but far from knowing or fully understanding the impacts of impacts)

Think about Crosby a few years ago. That was the awakening for me, as well as many others I'm sure (no doubt these reports existed before, but certainly not as widely known). The guy can't get out of bed? A sliver of light through the curtains feels like a lightning bolt to his head? Vomiting? I'm of course paraphrasing, but the repercussions finally hit home and felt much more real. The media environment of today played a major role in this.

Having said all of that, I don't think the NHL knew any of these facts before anyone else. Perhaps they should have, but no one was connecting the dots yet, not even medical academia (and if they were, they either did a poor job of sharing the info, or didn't even try to for proprietary reasons). If anyone can provide evidence of the NHL being intentionally negligent or malicious then I'll change my tune, but this is a problem with no one to really blame.

[codynw]

Staged fights have gotta go, and they've gotta start handing out more serious suspensions for hits to the head. Two games for a flying elbow to the dome isn't gonna cut it.

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by MattyC

How many years? A lot of these cases are coming up from former players who had their primes in the mid-2000's. Concussion protocols have only began to play a big part in injuries for the last maybe 5 years.

There may not have been concussion protocol in place in the 2000's, but did any sane person think concussions wouldn't have long term effects?

That's kind of where the rub is for me, people knew concussions weren't good (players and the league) but both pretty much kept their heads in the sand and ignored it. The league ignored it because it's bad for business, and players ignored it because they want to play and make money.

I'm not saying the league is innocent in the matter, I just feel like the players and PA should have some blame as well.