Leafs willing to be put to the test

When researchers can screen for CTE, players want to know

One of the best things about the upcoming Maple Leafs season, for those of us who populate the press box, is that we’ll be watching the most promising Toronto NHL season in recent memory alongside Bob McGill.

There was a time, a few short months ago, when there was grave concern he wouldn’t be around to join us. McGill, a Maple Leafs alumnus of the 1980s and ’90s who is now a Leafs TV analyst, suffered what is known as an evolving stroke May 31 — a blockage in the flow of blood to the brain with potentially dire consequences. As the stroke evolved over the course of a couple of days, the outlook appeared grim.

“I couldn’t walk, couldn’t talk, couldn’t see,” McGill, 55, was saying Wednesday as he watched another day of Maple Leafs training camp in Etobicoke. “I thought the lights were going to be turned off, and that’d be it.”

Thankfully, McGill rebounded quickly. The morning after his darkest day, he awoke to the sight of his loving wife, Mary, sleeping in a chair beside his hospital bed. He could see again. And in the ensuing hours and days he would regain his powers of speech and movement. Fast forward a few months, after some serious work with therapists, and he’s the same old Big Daddy — impeccable posture, crushing handshake, always ready with a story and a smile.

Upon his recovery McGill had questions for his doctor. Did the ravages of his 705-game NHL career play a factor in his health scare? The doctor didn’t think so. But even after undergoing multiple tests to determine the stroke’s cause, McGill said “nobody knows for sure.”

When it comes to understanding what hockey can do to a man and his brain, we’re a long way from knowing the gamut. Still, McGill was paying attention this week when researchers at Boston University announced they have taken an important step toward their goal of one day being able to diagnose CTE in living patients.

CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is the neurodegenerative disease that has been linked to repetitive head injuries. The Boston University researchers said Tuesday that they’ve discovered a biomarker that could help them identify and treat the disease before it takes its sometimes deadly toll.

Currently only diagnosable after death, CTE has been found in a handful of since-departed NHL alumni, among them Reggie Fleming, Rick Martin, Steve Montador and Bob Probert.

By his own count, McGill participated in about 190 NHL fights during his career. He fought Probert, the most feared enforcer of the era, no less than six times. And while McGill said he has never experienced any of the symptoms associated with CTE, he said he would still be willing to take a test that could determine whether or not his brain is harbouring the disease.

“If you could find that out while you’re still alive — and maybe be able to do something to help prevent it — it would obviously be a good thing,” McGill said.

There are those who’ll tell you that current players would rather not know what lies beneath their helmeted skulls, that ignorance, among the men who risk their brain health for hockey’s riches, is bliss. When news broke of the Boston University findings this week, TSN’s Rick Westhead quoted one NHL agent as saying: “If I asked 30 of my players if they would take a test to tell them if they have CTE, I think zero would be interested.”

Three NHL agents contacted Wednesday estimated the percentage of players interested in taking such a test would be higher. “Maybe 50%,” said one. “Probably 75%,” said another. And a small-sample survey of the Leafs dressing room suggested players would rather know than not.

“For sure I’d take the test,” said centre Nazem Kadri. “Because that’s one of those things, if you find out later, it might be too late.”

Matt Martin, the Leafs fourth-liner who has participated in about 100 professional hockey fights in the NHL and AHL, echoed Kadri’s sentiments.

“At the end of the day, knowledge is power. The more you know about something, the more beneficial it is to you,” Martin said.

There were some Maple Leafs who were less sure about whether or not they would take a CTE test — and certainly they’ll have time to ponder the question, since researchers say more study is required before a reliable test is a reality.

“I don’t know. It’s a good question. But maybe yes,” said Nikita Zaitsev, the Russian defenceman who missed the opening two games of last spring’s post-season with a suspected head injury.

Said Dominic Moore, the 37-yearold veteran centreman: “Tough to say. It’s great that they’re making discoveries and working hard at it. We’ll see what happens.”

All of Kadri, Martin and Zaitsev, mind you, insisted they would continue their careers no matter the result of a hypothetical screen for CTE.

“Is (a test result) going to change whether I play the game or how I play the game? I don’t think so,” Martin said.

Said Zaitsev: “You have no choice. You have family. You have kids. So are you going to stop doing all this or are you going to continue? You’ve got to do something, not only for yourself, but you’ve got to bring money home to your family. You’ve to work, is what I think.”

Kadri said, when he’s on the ice, he is possessed of “zero consideration” for his future health.

“I’m still fairly young, and I don’t need to think about post-hockey just yet,” he said.

Still, Kadri acknowledged that he might think differently when he’s older.

“Obviously I want to be able to have kids and be completely healthy for ’em and be the father and role model I can be,” Kadri said.

McGill said he can’t be sure how many of his fellow NHL alumni would be interested in taking a CTE test. Among the brethren, talk of such bleak possibility is mostly verboten.

“I think as an athlete, you always picture yourself as being invincible . . . Guys don’t talk about (the possibility of brain disease), because nobody wants to feel like they’re weak,” McGill said.

Still, as a father of three and grandfather of one, McGill said he’ll consider anything that might help ensure he’s around for many more Maple Leaf training camps to come.

“The way I played, I did a lot of banging and crashing,” McGill said. “In the back of your mind it’s like, ‘I hope I don’t end up with something like that.’ It’s not something that I live each and every day thinking about. But it’d be good to know.”