Following suit with players in the National Football League, the issue of concussions to former and current players in the National Hockey League has now spilled over into that sport as well. What began as a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of 10 NHL plaintiffs has now expanded to include many more players and the end is nowhere in sight.
In the old days, in both the NFL and the NHL, players were expected to take their knocks and keep their mouths shut. Enjoy the big money for now and the headaches will get better with time. Only the headaches did not get better. In many cases they got much worse and seriously debilitated the quality of life for a guy who was once a major star out on the field.
As with the NFL cases, the former NHL players are claiming that the league was negligent in protecting players from concussions even when the teams had the results of studies that proved that the issue was a serious one and that irreversible damage was being done to the very bread and butter of the league, the players themselves.
The NFL finally forced a settlement with thousands of former players in the league although the final amount paid to each player was insubstantial considering the subject and the damage done. Many players settled thinking that if they waited any longer, they would be too old to enjoy the little bit of money coming down from the NFL owners.
Mel Owens, a former NFL linebacker turned lawyer, says that the list of plaintiffs on the NHL class-action suit has now grown to over 200 players and still going up.
Former players from both leagues have suffered everything from memory loss to blinding headaches which they claim are the result of being hit repeatedly during their professional careers.
Owens recently told reporters, “You don’t need five head-on collisions on a freeway to say, ‘OK, now I’m really hurt. You only need to have your head punched in or have your head slammed on the ice or slammed into the boards once and it could alter your career forever… and your life.”
As for the NFL teams, their lawyers are lining up to fight the incoming suits with everything they have. The lawsuits will keep coming in and the story will continue to grow until some sort of settlement is reached between the league and the injured players.
