The NHL Concussion Lawsuit

Last Monday, the NHL was given the inevitable: a concussion lawsuit. (Full document here)

The lawsuit list 10 former players as defendants:

1. Brad Aitken (14 games)
2. Darren Banks (20 games)
3. Curt Bennett (580 games)
4. Richie Dunn (483 games)
5. Warren Holmes (45 games)
6. Gary Leeman (667 games)
7. Bob Manno (371 games)
8. Blair Stewart (229 games)
9. Morris Titanic (19 games)
10. Rick Vaive (876 games plus 75 WHA games)

It was also reported that another 200+ former players were jumping on this lawsuit. It was also reported that Rick Vaive would remove himself from this lawsuit.

I'm not going to go as far as Cherry did and call this a "money grab", but it does have that feel for it. For one, 4 of the players (Aitken, Banks, Holmes, and Titanic) combine for less than 100 games played in the NHL, so the possibility of them getting a concussion at the NHL level seems unlikely [1]. 4 other players on this list (Bennett, Dunn, Leeman, and Vaive) do collect an NHL pension for reaching 400 games. Out of the remaining 2 (Manno and Stewart), Stewart could have a case since his playing career ended soon after his NHL one, while Manno played 7 seasons in Italy after the NHL.

Another thing against this case is that it's compared to the NFL case. Since the NFL case was filed and settled, it did seem like a matter of time until the NHL got it's time in court. Where the NHL succeeds is that, unlike the NFL, they didn't hide and refute data about concussions. The NHL has actually been proactive on concussions, going back to 1997 when they formed a concussion committee with the NHLPA. If this does play out like the NFL case, then the players in the class action better be happy with $255 million [2].

The biggest case against the players though is obviously their concussion. Many players go through junior/college and the minor leagues before making the NHL. Unless a player miraculously doesn't play hockey until they try out for an NHL team and make it, there is a chance that they suffered a concussion. So they have to prove they suffered a concussion in the NHL, and that could be their biggest battle in terms of providing evidence.

(For more on this lawsuit, check out the pieces written by SI's Michael McCann and TSN's Eric Macramalla)

[1] I do not have any data to back up this opinion and am just going solely on optics. If there is data out there on the possibility I have no problem looking at it and adding it in here.

[2] The NFL projects about $9 billion in revenue while the NHL gets around $3 billion in revenue. The number above is a third of the $765 settlement the NFL paid in it's lawsuit.