Gary Bettman Has These Disturbing Comments

Prior to Game 3 of the Western Conference Final, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman spoke to the media in Chicago about a CTE lawsuit:

From a medical and science standpoint, there is no evidence yet that one necessarily leads to the other. I know there are a lot of theories, but if you ask people who study it, they tell you there is no statistical correlation that can definitively make that conclusion.

Bettman's comments that there is no evidence to link hockey to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease discovered to have been suffered by Steve Montador following his untimely death on February 15, 2015, did not sit well with the Montador family. William Gibbs is a lawyer who is filing a lawsuit on the family's behalf. Gibbs was disturbed by Bettman's comments and responded:

Certainly, we believe very strongly that there is a lot of evidence regarding that correlation and that connection. The only way that one can acquire CTE – I’m no scientist – but I’ve read, is through repetitive head trauma. When we know that someone has been involved in a sport professionally for a decade that encourages fighting, which certainly exposes the brain to trauma, and through the natural course of a game has certainly a propensity to cause trauma to the head, it doesn’t take a genius to add that all together and say professional hockey in Steve Montador’s case caused his CTE.

Montador suffered several concussions during a 571 game NHL career that was cut short due to a serious head injury as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2011-12 season.