Concussions are headache for NHL

Column

Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman skated here, there, everywhere Monday night at the Forum. It was the Lightning's first practice after the All-Star break. When it was done, Bolts coach Guy Boucher briefly ducked out of a media scrum to check with Lightning head trainer Tom Mulligan.

Hedman will play Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals.

"Yes, he's ready to go," Boucher said.

"I feel good," Hedman said. "It's been a long road back."

And still we worry.

Victor Hedman is barely 21.

And it's the head, man.

Hedman has missed 13 games since suffering a concussion in late December.

How do you not worry when you consider the hockey times we live in?

How do you not worry when arguably hockey's best player and most recognizable star, Sidney Crosby, continues to be sidelined with concussion symptoms, though a California doctor now says Crosby also has a previously undiagnosed … broken neck . Remind me never to have a neck ache in Pittsburgh. I'll try a doctor in Altoona first.

How do you not worry about any NHL player with concussions on the rise this season? Yes, maybe it's because diagnosis and awareness of concussions have come a long way. Or maybe it's that hockey is a fast, fierce game with huge guys flying around a confined space at 30 miles per hour.

Hedman is one of those huge guys, 6 feet, 6 inches tall, 230 pounds, with a style that reminds some hockey people of future Hall of Famer Chris Pronger - who is out for the season with severe post-concussion symptoms.

Understand that Hedman's concussion was not the result of a dirty hit. It was against Philadelphia at the Forum on Dec. 27.

"I was a little off balance," Hedman said. "I shot the puck and (a Flyer) hit me and I fell awkward into the boards. It was an innocent play, clean."

Concussions are a hot-button issue in the NHL right now, though the league has established concussion protocols and baseline testing and the now famous "quiet room." Concussions are worth making noise about.

The epidemic certainly should drown out the pouting of Capitals star Alex Ovechkin, who won't play against the Lightning tonight because he is serving a suspension for leaving his feet to deliver the kind of hit the NHL needs to stop once and for all.

You keep coming back to Hedman, whose future still appears bright - then something like this comes along …

"The brain is such a weird thing," Hedman said. "It's been up and down. You feel good working out one day, then the next day you feel bad. You think it's turning around one day, then the next day you have a headache and it's back to Step One."

There's a real question as to whether Crosby will ever play hockey again.

This is scary stuff.

Hedman had a concussion his rookie season, but missed little time. There has been evidence athletes who suffer one concussion are more susceptible to a second one, and a third one, and so on.

Lightning shooting star Steven Stamkos just returned from the All-Star Game in Ottawa, where for the first time he wore a new kind of helmet, made by Bauer, designed to manage rotational impact forces. Stamkos showed off the inside of his helmet, which has rotational padding. Not that anybody gets hit in an NHL All-Star Game. Stamkos plans to wear the helmet Tuesday against Washington.

"It moves when your head gets hit," Stamkos said. "It's not going to prevent all concussions, but it's a step toward trying to prevent them."

He added, "With the amount of concussions in the past two years, and with what's happening with Sid raising the issue even more, people are starting to question some of the things when it comes to safety. It was always in the back of your mind, but you never really thought of it because it didn't happen to someone as big as Sid or someone right on your team."

Like Victor Hedman?

Hedman now has two diagnosed concussions in his three-year-old NHL career.

Everybody in hockey should think about concussions.

Or they should have their heads examined.