Can you spot head injuries on a TV?
PLAYER SAFETY: Canucks wingers offer different perspectives on league’s new concussion protocol
Alex Burrows remembers it like it was yesterday. It’s hard to forget. It was April 11, 2007. Fourth overtime. Henrik Sedin would end the playoff suspense in the 78:06 marathon series opener between the Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars. However, the lasting memory for Burrows is disturbing — and as relevant today as it was then.
The Canucks winger had his head rocked against the Plexiglas by defenceman Stephane Robidas. Former head athletic trainer Mike Burnstein was adamant that Burrows shouldn’t keep playing, but the culture of trying to make a difference and putting his health at risk nearly got the best of him.
“I got crushed in the third period and I was wobbly,” Burrows recalled. “After the second overtime, I was getting dressed and Bernie said: ‘No, no, no. You’re not going back out there.’ He made sure, but I wanted to help the boys — and I’ve seen a lot of that. It puts trainers in a very difficult spot and I put Bernie in one because he probably saw (concussion) symptoms. Some players won’t even say they’re injured, so I would rather have someone make the call and we have to respect that.” It’s happening. While Burrows sat out the second game of that Dallas series for precautionary reasons — he was then cleared for the third game — it’s going to be more than a wary athletic trainer or the team’s medical staff determining a shaken player’s playing status now.
Four NHL spotters will watch every game this season at headquarters in Toronto and New York and will have the authority to remove any player showing concussion symptoms. It’s a needed and long-overdue advancement.
The so-called “quiet-room” observation protocol for in-game evaluation has evolved to consider baseline testing data to form better and more conclusive responses, but evaluations can differ and players often return to the ice.
Team-affiliated arena spotters had the authority last season to recommend that a player displaying symptoms should be removed from a game. But they didn’t have total autonomy.
Burrows suggested that form of assessment was “terrible” because players are paid to play. Those in the bottom six getting measured minutes aren’t always going to be cautious about their health, because they know they’re easily replaceable.
However, there’s also the argument that somebody watching on TV can’t completely determine if a player has concussion symptoms. The player may be winded from a heavy hit. It may be something else.
But something had to be done to help early detection of possible concussions and Burrows didn’t need to be sold on the new protocol.
“I like it and I’m really comfortable with it,” said the 35-year-old veteran of 767 regular-season and 70 playoff games. “I’ve seen guys throughout my career who got hit hard and just because of their job security — or their status as a bubble player with kids to support — that they would go back into the game and then something else would happen. And their long-term health would be damaged forever.”
Burrows still plays a rough game and invites physical responses because of his agitating manner. He’s always been a target and has been diagnosed with two concussions in his NHL career. So it’s not surprising that in the twilight of his career, with his contract expiring, that the father to two girls and a boy approves the league holding the concussion hammer.
“We have to be on the preventive side and make sure guys are fine before they get back out there,” he stressed. “You see some (struggling) guys in their 50s or 60s — I wouldn’t want to see my friends or teammates to live like some of the guys I’ve seen. The culture has to change and the medical culture, too. We have to think about the person before the hockey player or the business as a team.”
Not everyone feels the same way. Derek Dorsett sees flaws in the new system. His game is all about a physical approach. He fought 11 times last season — second to Cody McLeod’s dozen bouts — and he usually punches up a weight class.
And, on any given shift, he can look like something is bothering him. It could be from a fight or a hit or simple fatigue. How can a spotter watching a game on TV determine that he’s showing concussion-like symptoms? Players react differently.
“I like that they’re taking steps to try to protect the players, but I definitely think it’s a grey area,” Dorsett said. “It can take the pressure off coaches and trainers, but how can somebody from afar judge?
“It’s hard to take a player out of a game unless he’s Bambi-legged or goes to the wrong box. Sometimes, when a guy is crunched and winded and goes down, it looks like (a hit to the head) because he’s along the wall. It might look like I have a concussion all the time on the ice — who knows?
“And there are times when you’re crunched that you can’t breathe and are hunched over. Is a spotter going to say he’s out? It (the hit) can have nothing to do with your head and there are a lot of injuries that might look like you got hit in the head. I broke my collarbone when Andrew Alberts hit me and people probably thought I was hit in the head because I was hunched down. My shoulder was broken.
“Sometimes you get a stinger and kind of hold your shoulder and head a certain way. Is a spotter, who hasn’t played the game, (going to) know he’s winded? And because he looks like he’s swallowing his tongue at the bench, do you pull a guy out? How do you pull a guy out? I get winded three times a month.”
Dorsett has beaten long odds as a seventh-round draft pick in 2006 to play 481 regular-season games and 43 in the playoffs. He was in the Stanley Cup Final with the New York Rangers in 2014 and scored a careerhigh 12 goals with the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2011-12 season. But he knows who he is.
A pit-bull, fourth-line winger is of value when he can make his club tougher to play against. If he can’t, he’s replaceable. And if he’s drawing a sizable salary, those optics get more fuzzy.
“I don’t care what anybody says, all 30 GMs say they won’t judge a player if he comes to them and says he can’t play,” Dorsett said. “But in the back of their minds, they look at that stuff when they’re going to take a player on. Sometimes, players protect it (an injury) and hide it and is that right or wrong? We all have a competitive nature.
“There is more attention on that (concussions) and rightfully so. Overall, it (prevention) is getting better and guys are speaking up and being more cautious because we all have lives after hockey.”
There’s always room for debate. But when a spotter makes the call on a player exhibiting concussion-like symptoms — even if it’s controversial — his game will be over, but his career may be prolonged. Hard to argue with that.
“There are a lot of injuries that might look like you got hit in the head.” — Derek Dorsett