"CTE? Never heard of it.
"No. I can't spell liability.
"Yes. All puppets have legs, actually.
"See?"
-- Gary Bettman
HOCKEY
Former Predators captain Johnson was diagnosed with CTE after death
Brain disorder is likely caused by repeated head injuries
Greg Johnson
Photo: John Russell/Nashville Predators
Former Predators captain Greg Johnson was diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) after his death five years ago.
The widow and daughters of Johnson on Wednesday released the results of his post-mortem brain tissue analysis through the Concussion Legacy Foundation, saying they hoped to raise awareness for the long-term effects of concussions and repetitive head impacts in hockey.
Dr. Ann McKee, director of the Boston University CTE center, diagnosed Johnson with CTE, but was unable to definitively stage it due to the manner of death.
Johnson died at age 48 by suicide on July 7, 2019, the result of a self-inflicted gunshot.
CTE is a brain disorder likely caused by repeated head injuries, per the Mayo Clinic. It causes the death of nerve cells in the brain, known as degeneration. CTE gets worse over time. The only way to definitively diagnosis CTE is after death during an autopsy of the brain.
“This diagnosis took my breath away,” Johnson’s wife, Kristin, said in a release. “Greg’s death shattered our world, and we never once thought this disease was something he struggled with. He experienced very few symptoms that we knew of, but he spoke of his concussions often. I remember the exact moment he told me his heart condition forcing him to retire [in 2006] was a blessing because he couldn’t take another hit. He knew his hockey career had a profound impact on his brain.”
A center, Johnson played 785 NHL games over 12 years, suiting up for Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago and Nashville.
He was a member of the original Predators expansion team and spent seven seasons in Nashville, from 1998-99 through 2005-06. A Thunder Bay, Ontario, native, Johnson played 502 games for the Preds, totaling 238 points (93 goals, 145 assists). He still holds the franchise’s career record of 11 short-handed goals.
Johnson served as the Preds’ second captain, holding that title from 2002 through 2006.
“I had no idea what CTE even stood for when my dad took his life,” Carson Johnson, Greg Johnson’s eldest daughter, said in the release. “Now understanding that the hits he endured throughout his hockey career damaged his brain, I want all athletes to understand the risks and I want the NHL to start acknowledging it exists and do more to protect its players so other daughters don’t have to lose their fathers.”
The NHL and commissioner Gary Bettman have consistently said throughout the past few years that there is no definitive link between CTE and the game of hockey.
“We listen to the medical opinions on CTE, and I don't believe there has been any documented study that suggests that elements of our game result in CTE,” Bettman told NPR in 2023. “There have been isolated cases of players who have played the game [who] have had CTE. But it doesn't mean that it necessarily came from playing in the NHL.”
In Australia in the last 4-5 years we've had a small but steady trickle of players in our two most high-contact sports - Aussie Rules football and rugby - who have been forced to retire early because of long-term concussion injuries and the greater medical understanding we now have of them. But so far very few in the NHL has been forced out, with the most recent partial exception of Kase and even he's kept playing elsewhere. I find that remarkable and frankly suspicious. Sure they wear helmets but those things are so flimsy and I doubt they really help much.
I don't want to see guys being obliged to step away from what they love unnecessarily. But at the same time concussion issues that aren't addressed properly can have such serious long-term consequences, and if that's still not being given sufficient weight amongst the hockey medial community then that's a problem. Obviously we're not privy to the ins and outs of the care and support given to individual players. Hopefully it's all first rate. But given what we now know, and the nature of the sport, the fact that so few have yet been permanently put on the shelf seems very odd and potentially concerning.
Edit: should reinforce that it's not literally a blank slate on this front - you've got guys like Nash, Donskoi and Shaw who have had to retire prematurely on concussion grounds. Just feels like there's perhaps been less than their should.
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