CTE is sadly back in the news in the hockey world this week following the death of former enforcer Chris Simon, who was 52 years old.
Simon’s family confirmed in a statement that he died by suicide and said the family “strongly believes and witnessed firsthand, that Chris struggled immensely from CTE which unfortunately resulted in his death.”
The NHL, however, continues to deny that there is any clear link between repeated blows to the head and the degenerative brain disease, with deputy commissioner Bill Daly telling Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli on Wednesday, “I think the science is still lacking.”
Making his weekly appearance on The Greg Hill Show on Thursday, former Bruin and longtime NHL analyst Mike Milbury ripped the league for that stance. Listen to the full interview above.
“You guys know that Chris Simon died this past week,” Milbury began. “Former tough guy died of a self-inflicted wound of some kind or another. Just another one. You might know the names Jeff Parker, Bob Probert, Gino Odjick, Derek Boogaard, Steve Montador, Todd Ewen. All dead, and most of them found out – after the fact, because you can't find out before you die – that they had CTE.
“And the American Medical Association found that 14 to 30% of players in the NHL get concussions every year, and for every year they play, more than a 20% increase of the chance of getting CTE. Now, none of these are rock solid statistics or information, but there was one scientist at BU that said, if you get enough brain bruises, which is basically what a concussion is – it rattles your brain against the inside of your skull – if you get enough of those, your brain is going to rot.
“But neither the NHL nor Roger Goodell from the NFL have conceded this. They say there's not enough cause and effect. Well, there's a bunch of guys out there that are dead now that say somewhat differently. And common sense says, do something about this. Those guys are riding high. They make billions of dollars. Each of those guys individually make tens of millions of dollars every year. All they need to do, from my end of the thing, is make sure they continue to do the research.
“…Hire some health sheriffs and get some people out there that find out that Chris Simon is having trouble, that he can't pay for his kids’ fees, he can't find a house, he's in complete debt and disarray. This is happening far too often, and it's time for them to just say, we're going to protect our players no matter what they do. We're going to find a place for them to live, get them health care and food and whatever else they need. I'm not talking about over-the-top mansions, but you gotta find a way to reach out to these players and help them before we lose more of them. There's no question in my mind that eventually we're going to find out that these bone-chilling, rattling hits and punches to the head do cause CTE, and they should do something about it.”
Host Greg Hill followed up by asking Milbury if he thinks the NHL should eliminate fighting.
“They should have eliminated it 20 years ago when they knew some stuff like this was happening,” Milbury said. “Hey, listen, don't get me wrong – I love a good go. I love the vigilante justice. And, you know, fighting is not really as much of a culprit as you might think when it comes to the CTE stuff. It's the bone-rattling hits against the wall that do just as much as a punch to the head. But the punch to the head, obviously you can stop that by saying you can't fight. If you fight, you can't play. And that should have happened a long time ago. The owners want to protect it because they don't want to do anything to disrupt the fanbase. It's time to grow up. Face some reality here.”