Each week we scour the web to find concussions in the National Hockey League. We will keep a running tally on that information as the season progresses. However, it is not easy as the NHL has decided that listing injuries as “upper body” or “undisclosed” is a good indicator of actual injuries occurred. Our list is believed to be as accurate as possible, even including injuries that have vague listings but through reports and video analysis should be classified as concussions.
As we get nearer the playoffs there will be MANY more “undisclosed” or “upper body” injuries that will encompass the head. The general reasoning is the “old school” method of not letting the opponent know where to target. However, with rules in place to protect the head and hits that effect the head than listings like these are archaic in this authors mind. Granted that some reporters do not know about or want to speculate about injuries sustained, there are some obvious indications that, to me, get overlooked.
The biggest case recently has been the Johan Franzen case, where after a game he told reporters that he has sustained a concussion, but now is listed as a groin injury. Never the less we have added four players to the list, bringing the total to 89 90;
- Ryan McDonagh – New York Rangers
- Niklas Hagman – Calgary
- Mark Olver – Colorado
- Vernon Fiddler – Phoenix (first player that was removed from ice, listed as “undisclosed”)
- Dan Hamhuis – Vancouver (2nd of season)
- Patrice Cormier – Atlanta (UPDATE)
With generally 7 games remaining here are some stats;
- 0.04 concussions/game played
- 1.19 concussions/game night
- Positionally Speaking
- C – 23.80% (21)
- LW – 15.73% (14)
- RW – 20.22% (18)
- D – 38.20% (34)
- G – 2.25 (2)
- Team Wise
- 0 – CAR
- 1 – OTW, SJ, CLM, MTL, FLA, NJ
- 2 – LA, DET, NYR, PHI, TB, TOR
- 3 – CAL, BUF, CHI, NAS, WAS
- 4 – ATL, DAL, ANA, EDM, BOS, STL, VAN
- 5 – NYI, PHX, MIN, PIT
- 8 – COL
The percentage of players in the league that have been concussed (using 690 total players) 12.90%.
The Concussion Blog 