NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly denied the link between brain injuries and CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma.
“The science regarding C.T.E., including on the asserted ‘link’ to concussions that you reference, remains nascent, particularly with respect to what causes C.T.E. and whether it can be diagnosed by specific clinical symptoms,” Bettman wrote in response to questioning from a U.S. senator back in 2016. “The relationship between concussions and the asserted clinical symptoms of C.T.E. remains unknown.”
As recently as 2019, Bettman continued this denial and dismissed the links between head trauma suffered in hockey and CTE.