Subcommittee on Sports-Related Concussions in Canada Committee on May 1st, 2019

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Maybe you can tell me a little about how you evolved to that point and where you see this being a progressive reality in reducing concussion. There is obviously more that's going to have to be done.

Let me front-load my question and then I'll give you the rest of my time.

With that, let's talk a bit about concussions and we understand now, obviously with rule 48, dangerous plays. What's the role of officiating in all of this when we change the game and keep core elements? I found it intriguing when you talked about keeping the core elements in the game, but we have seen the game change. We've veered away from fighters to skill.

Because it's part of what this subcommittee does moving forward, what do you see? Should we have rules that just have automatic maximum penalties for certain types of plays? How do you see us moving forward?

[Gary Bettman]

That's a great question with a lot of pieces, so—

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

Yes, and you have the rest of my time until the chair cuts you off.

You go for it.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

For five minutes.

[Gary Bettman]

Five minutes? Okay, you'll give me a little bit of a warning before we get to the end.

On your question about the officials, as I indicated in my statement, we educate the officials to, among other things, look for visible signs of concussion. An official can cause the removal of a player from the game if he doesn't like what he sees. I think that's an important buy-in in terms of what takes place. They're on the ice and they may conceivably have the best view of what happened.

The officials are charged with enforcing the rules. They are regularly instructed on rule compliance. They are given coaching videos on a regular basis in terms of how the game should be called, what's legal and what isn't legal.

When we talk about the essential elements of the game, bodychecking—physical contact—is something that's part of the game and has been forever. It's something that makes the game exciting, appealing and entertaining. It's something that our players think is an important element of the game as well.

What we have learned is that whether or not it's ultimately concluded that a concussion leads to something else down the road—whether it's one concussion or 20 concussions—we can all agree that it's better if players are not concussed. There's no question about that.

Rule 48 has reduced, I believe, the incidence of concussions from head hits from 61% to 40%, so there has been a dramatic decline in the percentage of concussions caused by contact with the head. There are rules against hitting from behind. There are rules against elbowing. There are rules against cross-checking and high-sticking.

It's all part of a pattern of trying to keep the game as safe as possible. We've also changed equipment, reduced the size of shoulder pads and elbow pads. We've softened the environment to get rid of tempered glass and replace it with Plexiglas. We've required players—with the agreement of the players' association on all rule changes—to put on visors. We do a video analysis of injuries, including concussions, every year to see what's causing injuries and what adjustments have to be made. It's too easy to make blanket statements about changing a rule when in fact the rule that you're changing may not be addressing where the injuries are being caused.

We have the educational videos, and as importantly, we have the department of player safety, which is evaluating every hit. When there's a hit that is not appropriate, that transcends the rule, players get suspended for sometimes long periods of time, costing them potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. All of this is part of a mosaic, if you will, that gets everybody—the constituents—to buy in and creates a framework and a culture that encourage safer play in a game that is inherently physical.

How am I doing on time, Mr. Chairman?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

You have a minute and a half.

[Cheryl Hardcastle, NDP, Windsor—Tecumseh, ON]

You've mentioned something about blanket statements before.

Do you mean blanket statements about hits to the head?

[Gary Bettman]

Yes.

There has always been a discussion, for example, that there should be no head contact. There are other leagues at a lower level that have such a rule, which is inconsistently enforced, and there are still head hits.

What we're trying to do at the NHL level is to strike a balance, which we do with the players. This is something that the players feel strongly about, that we strike a balance to maintain the physicality of the game and reduce, to the extent possible, head contact. For example—and I'll give you an absurd example—players, as I indicated, are different heights, weights, skills. If you eliminate all head contact, every time a taller player—which most players would be—would check me, there would have to be head contact. If that would result in a penalty every time, there would be no more bodychecking.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

We are going to be moving over to the Liberals again.

Madam Fortier, for seven minutes.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you very much.

Thank you for being here today. I appreciate our having this conversation.

Mr. Bettman, I really appreciate what you're saying, and that you are taking it seriously and you're committed to setting a good example to our children. As a mother of three kids who are in sports, I appreciate that it is something you're looking at.

However, I watched last night's game, and there was a player who punched another player in the head. I understand today that no discipline will be given to that player. I'm also trying to understand the balance between when it's a good hit and when it's a bad hit. I am wondering if you could explain that to me.

[Gary Bettman]

That play should have been penalized. Sometimes things are missed on the ice, which is unfortunate. Our officials have a very difficult job. They must have the most difficult job in all of sports.

When a penalty is missed, it doesn't necessarily rise to the level of a suspension, but the player is warned by the department of player safety that this conduct is unacceptable and if it is repeated he should look forward to a suspension.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

As well, just to try to understand all of those sanctions or suspensions, are you going to work on making it clear that this is unacceptable? If so, what could be done to encourage the fact that this should be done?

[Gary Bettman]

I should have mentioned before when I was talking about the department of player safety that one thing the department of player safety has been charged with is that every time they make a decision on supplemental discipline, they make a video that is posted on the NHL's website so that you can see exactly what the act was, why it was punished and the reason that a particular punishment was administered. This is particularly in the case of a repeat offender, where the suspension or the punishment gets longer.

We think those videos are very instructional. Occasionally, when we don't suspend on a controversial play, they make a video explaining why they didn't suspend. That's something that we think is very important to educate everybody.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Again, trying to understand how we can change that culture or encourage especially the youth who want get to get to be able to be an NHL player—girls or boys, of course—how do we continue moving forward to make it safer?

[Gary Bettman]

What we need to do is continue to educate and continue to show how the game should be played and how it is played at each age. As we look at youth hockey, the age at which hitting or checking is allowed has been moved up. Getting players to play the right way, to not hit from behind, to make sure they keep their elbows down, to make sure there isn't stickwork that's not acceptable—these are the things we do with videos. The medical aspects are equally important. Coaches at all levels of hockey need to have appropriate training. Parents need to have appropriate training on what to look for in their children, and to an extent our videos and our messaging can help with that.

Going back to your other question, one thing that tends to get overlooked is that in the course of the season, there are probably 50,000 man games played. The number of instances where a player does something inappropriate is really a tiny fraction. That doesn't make it okay or acceptable, but that doesn't define the game, because overwhelmingly our game is played by the rules, and appropriately. It's unfortunate that the few inappropriate instances get the most attention. But in the final analysis—

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I have another question, so if you could—

[Gary Bettman]

Yes. Let me finish this, and then I'll be happy to take it.

We work with Hockey Canada. We work with USA Hockey. We work with the International Ice Hockey Federation. Our goal is to continue to educate players at all levels, because as with most things, education is the key.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Do you continue, by any chance, to have a relationship with former players or current ones who are injured? How do you support the families? Not just the players are affected; the families are also affected, and the communities.

[Gary Bettman]

First of all, the concussion protocol education is available, and is made available, to families when a player has a concussion so that the whole family structure can understand what's going on. We have counselling programs that are available. Our substance abuse and behavioural health programs are available to former players who are in need. We also have a post-career training program that we do with the alumni association, which we help pay for, to make sure that the transition to a different life is made easier. We use our resources to do all of those things. The players' association works with us. We have an emergency assistance fund for former players who run into financial difficulties. As I said, we work with the alumni association. We have increased voluntarily, with the players' association, the pension for retired players, particularly the early pension, which was less generous than the one we now provide.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

So those supports are in place and you continue.

[Gary Bettman]

Absolutely.

[Mona Fortier, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Are there any challenges or any asks coming from those families, or former players or current ones that are not addressed that we should know about?

[Gary Bettman]

We try to address them all. Sometimes we get requests for help, and the player in question isn't interested in our help.

We view ourselves as a family. While we will put aside the litigations that we've been involved in, and nobody has gotten to them yet—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Fonseca]

You have about 30 seconds.

[Gary Bettman]

—at the end of the day we view ourselves as a family, and our resources are available to the members of our family.