Family Of Late-Blackhawks Defenseman Steve Montador Sues NHL

In the past few years, a growing number of NHL players have died early. Derek Boogaard, Wade Belak, and Rick Rypien all passed away during the summer of 2011. Todd Ewen died this September. And last February, Steve Montador was found dead in his home at age 35.

While his death came as a shock, it fit an emerging pattern. Montador was a player known for his physicality; consequently, he suffered through several concussions including the one that ended his NHL career. Those close to him had noticed a change in his mood. And after his brain was examined, doctors found he had suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease caused by repetitive head trauma.

Based on those facts, Montador’s family filed a lawsuit against the NHL, claiming the league did not properly warn him of the long term risks hockey posed. “The NHL’s insistence upon preserving and promoting violence in spite of the obvious dangers caused, or contributed to cause, Steven R. Montador’s brain damage, addiction and depression.”

There is also a class action lawsuit against the league by 80 former players; it is similar to the class action suit former football players filed against the NFL.

Despite growing medical evidence, the NHL still denies any links between concussions, sustained in hockey or otherwise, and CTE. “The fact of the matter is, from a medical and science standpoint, there is no evidence yet that one necessarily leads to the other,” commissioner Gary Bettman said in May. “I know there are a lot of theories, but if you ask the people who study it, they tell you there is no statistical correlation where they can definitively make that conclusion.”

Photo: Steve Montador #5 of the Chicago Blackhawks controls the puck against the Vancouver Canucks at the United Center on November 6, 2011 in Chicago, Illinois. The Canucks defeated the Blackhawks 6-2. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)