Some sound thinking concerning brain injuries

Sunday hockey notes

December 18, 2011|By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff

No matter what the statistics might tell us, the optics are bad and getting worse. The NHL has something wrong with its head, specifically the concussed brains of its rank-and-file stick carriers, and no one is sure what to do about it, or if there is anything that can be done to make an inherently dangerous game substantially less a killing field.

Nothing on the KO front should surprise us anymore, but the hockey Twitterverse exploded Thursday night when the Flyers revealed that captain/hardened warrior Chris Pronger would be shut down for the duration, including the playoffs. Diagnosis: severe postconcussion syndrome. Bruins fans know the drill all too well, given the histories of Patrice Bergeron (now doing very well) and Marc Savard (not expected to resume his career).

Pronger’s move to neuropsych purgatory after missing 11 games came the week after the Penguins said superstar center Sidney Crosby, after playing in only eight games (2-10-12), would need more time out of action. Sid the Kid came back only last month after getting cranked twice within a week at the start of January.

According to multiple reports, the 24-year-old Crosby figures it was an elbow from the Bruins’ David Krejci Dec. 5 that exacerbated his latest woes. Krejci, it should be noted, is tough enough to withstand the daily NHL grind, but he is anything but a mauler. If Crosby can’t withstand Krejci-like knocks, his troubles may be far from behind him, possibly irreparable. At this point, no one would be surprised if, like Pronger, Crosby were to shut it down for the season, rest, and try again come training camp in September 2012.

Headed into weekend action, Pronger and Crosby were joined by fellow brothers of the concussed Claude Giroux and Brayden Schenn (both Flyers), along with the high-profile likes of Milan Michalek, the league’s top goal scorer from Ottawa, and Jeff Skinner, the Hurricanes’ scoring whiz who was last season’s Rookie of the Year. The slick Giroux recently topped the list of the game’s top point-getters.

The fact that such talented players are getting concussed brings a brighter, hotter spotlight to a persistent and difficult issue, but brain injuries have to be taken seriously, no matter if the player is a fourth-line plumber or a face of the franchise (see: Crosby, Pronger).