A U.S. federal court in Minneapolis has unsealed a trove of sensitive emails sent between high-ranking National Hockey League executives, including one email exchange in which NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly links fighting in hockey to concussions, depression, and âpersonal tragedies.â
The 2011 email chain â which also includes the contention by a top NHL official that players have used pills for everything from waking up and sleeping to easing pain and amping up â is among a series of documents newly unsealed by a Minnesota judge who is overseeing a lawsuit filed by a group of former NHL players.
While the NHL argues players should have been able to put âtwo and twoâ together about the consequences of repeated head trauma, the former players charge the league has underplayed the dangers of repeated head injuries, putting its own profits ahead of player safety.
Dalyâs email about "personal tragedies"was sent in September 2011, after three NHL enforcers â Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, and Wade Belak â died in a span of four months. On Sept. 2, 2011, The Globe and Mail newspaper published a story headlined, âGetting rid of hockeyâs goons.â Shanahan, who has since left his job as chief NHL disciplinarian to become the Toronto Maple Leafsâ president, emailed the Globe story to Bettman and Daly.
(The emails which are linked to in the text below should be read from the bottom up. Personal email addresses have been redacted by W5)
âDo you remember what happened when we tried to eliminate the staged fights?â âThe âfightersâ objected and so did the pa [NHLPA]. Eliminating fighting would mean eliminating the jobs of the âfightersâ, meaning these guys would not have NHL careers. An interesting question is whether being an NHL fighter does this to you (I donât believe so) or whether a certain type of person (who wouldnât otherwise be skilled enough to be an NHL player) gravitates to this job (I believe more likely)."
âI tend to think its a little bit of both. Fighting raises the incidence of head injuries/concussion, which raises the incidence of depression onset, which raises the incidence of personal tragedies."
"I believe the fighting and possible concussions could aggravate a condition,â Bettman wrote. âBut if you think about the tragedies there were probably certain predispositions. Again, though, the bigger issue iswhether the [NHLPA] would consent to in effect eliminate a certain type of âroleâ and player. And, if they donât, we might try to do it anyway and take the âfightâ (pun intended)."
Shanahan responded: âThe previous regime at the [NHLPA] definitely would fight it. But I thought their current position on illegal checks to the head isthat it should encompass ALL contact, If we keep this simply about concussions and brain injuries then how can they argue against it.â
Shanahan added that NHL tough guys have long found ways to self-medicate to deal with their role.
âThis is not the same role as it was in the 80âs and 90âs,â Shanahan wrote. âFighters used to aspire to become regular players. Train and practice to move from 4th line to 3rd. Now they train and practice becoming more fearsome fighters. They used to take alcohol or cocaine to cope. (Kordic) Now they take pills. Pills to sleep. Pills to wake up. Pills to ease the pain. Pills to amp up. Getting them online."
Bettman, in the final email in the Sept. 3, 2011, chain that the court unsealed, wrote that it was still unclear whether the NHLPA would agree to eliminate fighting.
âAgree, but remember you are about to try to take a certain type of player (or aspiring player) and tell him his ability to earn more money than he could probably make doing anything else is over!â Bettman wrote. âThe current head of the union spent a decade in baseball protecting steroid users over what was best for the vast majority of his players and the game.â
Neither Daly nor NHL senior vice-president of communications Gary Meagher replied to repeated requests seeking comment about the emails.
Lawyers for the former players say Dalyâs email, which the NHL battled to keep secret, appears to contradict the leagueâs public stance on the alleged link between hockey, and long-term brain injuries. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for years has steadfastly denied that such a link exists.
âWhile the NFL has recently admitted the link between repetitive trauma in sport and long-term brain disease, the NHL continues to deny the link, insisting that hockey is not football,â Michael Cashman, a lawyer for the former players, said in an interview. âContrary to those public denials, this internal email from senior NHL executive Bill Daly to commissioner Bettman acknowledges the link between head injuries, depression and personal tragedies.â
The documents disclosed by U.S. federal court Judge Susan Nelson are among a series court exhibits that the NHL initially tried to keep hidden from public view.
While a magistrate judge initially agreed with the NHL that many of those exhibits should remain sealed completely or in part, lawyers for the former players appealed the magistrate judgeâs decision to Nelson, who is overseeing the high-stakes NHL concussion lawsuit.
CTVâs W5 has been granted intervenor status in the case and on Friday obtained a cache of more than 240 court exhibits, which range from internal NHL email correspondence to minutes of NHL board of governor meetings to confidential NHL concussion analysis. The NHL battled to keep many of the documents obtained by W5 out of public view.
In January at the NHL All-Star Game in Nashville, Bettman was asked about the court-ordered disclosure of emails.
"The selective released leaking of documents out of context may cause some people to scratch their heads, a couple of other people maybe to, for a brief moment, be a little embarrassed about salty language or the like,â he said. âBut I'm very comfortable with our record.
"I think in terms of us doing our business on an ongoing basis and the fact that we have the league to run, I'd prefer these things not be public. They'll be a distraction at best, but I don't think they impact the rest of the case."
Among the newly unsealed documents is , the NHLâs senior vice-president of communications, who wrote the NFLâs concern for player safety was âsmoke and mirrors.â
The NHL, Meagher wrote, has ânever been in the business of making the game safer on all levels.â
In the wake of the NHL concussion lawsuit, which was filed in September 2013, the league hired market-research company Edelman Berland to conduct a survey about fan perception of violence in the NHL versus the NFL.
On Aug. 4, 2014, the New York-based companyâs chief executive, Mike Berland, sent Meagher the survey, which the court has agreed to keep secret, at the NHLâs request. An email conversation about the survey, however, has been unsealed.
âWhat do you think?â Berland wrote to Meagher.
âI could sum up in one line⌠NFL is in the business of selling that they are making the game of football safer at all levels -- it is smoke and mirrors but they are masters of smoke and mirrors,â Meagher replied on Aug. 4. âThe nhl has never been in the business of trying to make the game safer at all levels and we have never tried to sell the fact that this is who we are⌠The question is: should we be in that business and if we were, what could we possibly achieve without throwing millions of dollars at education.â
Berland replied: âIs that your real response? Very cynical.â
âNot cynical at all,â Meagher answered. âNFL invests hundreds of thousands of dollars each year around their pr campaign to deal with violence ⌠They produce concussion websites, send former players around teachingyoung players how to play the game safer, they produce videos for youngfootball players ... I could go on and on ... We do none of that and donât view it as an important part of our mandate ⌠NFL views their role as being leaders in the game of football âŚâ
Cashman, one of the lawyers for the former players, told TSN that Meagherâs email is evidence that the NHL âhas never been serious about player safety at all levels of hockey and has been unwilling to spend the money necessary to be a true leader.â
âThis and other unsealed documents demonstrate that the NHL sells and promotes violence â hate, as admitted by NHL executive vice-president Colin Campbell â and that its concussion program appears to have been a public relations ploy to make it look like the NHL has been doing something about concussions and brain injuries,â Cashman said.
Cashman said another newly unsealed exhibit highlights that the NHL, contrary to Meagherâs email, wants to be seen publicly as an industry leader when it comes to promoting safety in all levels of hockey.
A January 2011 internal NHL report titled âConcussions in the NHL: Injury patterns, evaluations and management,â details how NHL doctors were among various stakeholders from the hockey medical community who participated in a two-day summit on concussions in October 2010 at the Mayo Clinic.
The same report described how the NHL had been working with companies including Reebok and Scotiabank on a concussion education video for youth hockey players, families and coaches in Canada.
In December of 2011, three months after the email chain in which Daly wrote of a connection between fighting and âpersonal tragedies,â Bettman emailed Shanahan, Daly, and NHL senior vice-president Colin Campbell after Philadelphia Flyers rookie Sean Couturier was sidelined with a head injury.
Couturier was the third Flyer sidelined by a head injury in a week.
âCan you believe this run of injuries,â . âCouturier just took a puck to the head.â
Shanahan replied: âAnother busy night.â
âHow bad?â Bettman wrote.
âJust a couple plays but one on a Boston player and one on Mtl player,â Shanahan wrote. âAs it turns out I think only the Boston MIGHT get a small suspension. The Mtl player picks the head but the NJ players leans âjust priorâ. No injury and no history. Very similar to Malone/Campoli (but in their favor this time).â
âAny more concussions?â Bettman replied.
âNot so far,â Shanahan replied.
âNight is young!â Bettman wrote.