Renaud Lavoie of Le Journal De Montreal tweeted the news that the NHL will implement another way of looking for concussions by having spotters at every game this season. Their job will be to spot visible signs of concussions in the players on the ice.
Here’s what Lavoie wrote this morning (H/T to Mike Halford of NBC Sports for translating)
In the NFL, observers are physicians who are employed by the league and are not confined to a single city.
NHL will be different.
It will not necessarily be a doctor (not a requirement) that will take this position and in addition, that person will be paid by the local team. It will be placed in the stands at a secret location and will always remain in the same city.
It’s basically mystery shopping, but for concussions.
The idea is a good one, but the way they actually plan on doing things seems a bit flawed. The NFL uses physicians, who would be able to identify whether a player is actively concussed. If it’s not a requirement to be a doctor, then shouldn’t it be much harder to identify these symptoms? I doubt they are going to hire a random person off the street to do it, but I’m not sure how effective someone can be from the stands who isn’t an expert.
Anyways, this is a good idea. Anything that helps in actively diagnosing concussions, especially ones that are missed, is the right move. Good on the NHL.