Concussion expert rips the NHL for dangerous treatment of JG Pageau

During Monday night’s game between the Washington Capitals and the New York Islanders, superstar Alex Ovechkin caught forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau with a thunderous bodycheck in the corner during the second period.

After the hit, Pageau appeared woozy and disoriented, as teammate Noah Dobson had to help keep him from falling to the ice.

Pageau left with 13:25 remaining in the second period, but was somehow back on the bench and ready for his shift before the middle frame came to an end. This means seeing that his first shift following the injury came at 3:51, almost a 10-minute game absence.

àThere has been a lot of talk on whether Pageau should have return this early from protocol or even into the game itself. While his return means he passed protocol, which is astonishing for concussion expert Dr. Chris Nowinski, a neuroscientist and the CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, ripped the NHL for their concussion protocol in a Twitter post.

“NHL continues to fly under the radar with shocking concussion care.

Here’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau after a big hit from Ovechkin. This is classic ataxia and in the new NFL protocol is automatic removal. Pageau was “evaluated” and returned to the game.

“Time to update the protocol Gary [Bettman]”

Ataxia is described as poor muscle control that causes clumsy, voluntary moments, per The Mayo Clinic, which is what we see in Pageau right after the hit.

When asked after the game about Pageau’s condition and if he needed further evaluation, Islanders head coach Lane Lambert only answered:

“He was back in the game, so he should be fine,” Lambert said.

The Islanders are back in action later tonight as they face the Boston Bruins.

This isn’t the first time the Islanders have dealt with concussion issues this season. Forward Kyle Palmieri suffered an upper-body injury against the Arizona Coyotes on December 16, NHL concussion spotters forced him out of the game before he returned. However, he hasn’t played in 15 games and is currently on Injured Reserve.

Nowinski has been an advocate in discussing and exposing issues with concussion protocols in different sports leagues and maintains that concussions symptoms sometimes take days before they arise, so Monday night was a situation where the Islanders might have been “rather be safe than sorry.”

However, the NHL remains reluctant to change anything about concussion protocols and we doubt that Gary will take to social media to answer to Nowinski’s comments…