GMs discuss hits to the head in NHL meeting

BOCA RATON, Fla.

Hits to the head that can cause concussions were the main topic as NHL general managers began their annual meetings Monday.

A discussion of a two-year independent medical study undertaken by the league included a video presentation showing footage of a number of well-known hits to the head during games. The league estimates there are 60,000 to 70,000 body hits during a season, and during the past 21‚Ñ2 years there have been 200 concussions reported among players.

In 21 games reviewed from this season, showing an average of 22 contacts to the head per game, 30 percent of those hits were shoulder to head. Most body checks with the shoulder are considered legal hits.

“We’re looking at, can we reduce concussions that come from legal hits?” said Colin Campbell, the NHL’s director of hockey operations. “Our challenge [Monday], [today] and Wednesday at this meeting is to see if we can arrive at some sort of conclusion that will make the game safer to play and reduce concussions.

“What we don’t want to do is damage one of the basic fibers of the game.”

The NHL is struggling to minimize concussions without damaging a sport that clearly relies on its physicality to enhance spectator entertainment.

“The hits are great until someone gets hurt,” Campbell said. “The question is, do we want to take shoulders to the head out of the game of hockey?”

Dr. Winne Meeuwisse, the NHL consulting physician, said the study did not pinpoint a general trend in the type of hits that result in concussions.

Meeuwisse also pointed out not every concussion results from a direct hit to the head, but could happen from a whiplash effect from a hit to another part of the body.

“They happen at all different places and in all different ways,” he said.

“They’re open ice. They’re along the boards and glass, which is different than being against the boards and glass, which also happens.

“They happen in the offensive and defensive zone, the neutral zone, and they happen in all different mechanisms of contact.”

The issue was illuminated by the concussion suffered by the Bruins’ Marc Savard when Penguins forward Matt Cooke blindsided him with a shoulder hit Sunday.