NHL Is Not Facing a Concussion Pandemic

A total of 71 NHL players have missed time due to a concussion this season. Nineteen were back within five games and 34 were back within 10. The rest missed more time or are still out including the poster boy, Sidney Crosby. These numbers are shockingly large, which is why the NHL deserves praise.

Finally concussions are being recognized, they are being treated properly and they are making sure every victim is 100 percent before returning.

I have heard many people, most notably Don Cherry, state that the best thing we can do is make shoulder pads smaller in order to eliminate concussions. Although it may eliminate some concussions, it will cause significantly more total injuries with the shot-blocking alone. In today's game with composite sticks, pucks are going far faster far more often than they were back when the smaller pads made sense and were used. Cutting down on concussions this way will not eliminate all concussions and for that reason alone I find it ridiculous to put major organs in the torso at risk.

The fact of the matter is we have always had concussions and always will in this game, even back with smaller pads when players weren't missing time for concussions. Nowadays when a player is seeing double and he is not drunk, he is not playing.

Let's look back a few years to the '05-06 season, the first post-lockout season with the new rules and same equipment. Despite most players not having played in a single game in more than a year as well as the rules not being the same, there were only 48 players who missed time due to a concussion/head injury that season. Forty-eight is significantly less than the 71 missed in half of this season.

With the same rules, players, teams, hits and equipment, it is only fair to believe what Brian Burke has been advocating, which is that there are no more and no fewer concussions this season in comparison to any other season.

In the next few seasons, the progression of knowledge of concussions will continue to rise and as a result, the number of players suffering from them will as well. When we look back at this year, the number will seem low and we will not call this year a pandemic.