Will more current NHL players speak up about head trauma?

Perhaps it was just a matter of time before an active player entered the discussion about the NHL’s ongoing concussion case. But that didn’t make it any less impactful when Willie Mitchell pointed his finger at the league for “not doing enough” when it comes to head trauma.

The NHL’s ordeal is something that SportsNet’s  Elliotte Friedman wrote "will get worse before it gets better.” The lawsuit between the NHL and former players was already becoming a bigger issue with the release of unsealed emails between the league’s higher-ups. Now, with Mitchell’s claims, it goes to wonder: Will more current players speak up and add to the fire?

Mitchell sustained the seventh concussion of his professional career and hasn’t been in the Florida Panthers lineup since Jan. 18. The captain spewed venom at the league in a SportsNet interview for not doing enough to combat serious head injury.

One thing Mitchell is sure about is his belief that suspensions for headshots aren’t severe enough. 

Mitchell insists players want more protection from head injuries, and he says the NHL could help by issuing longer suspensions to those who deliver blows to the head. 

“The league needs to do a better job,” Mitchell said. “Guys need protection. 

“There’s a concern with players. Guys are worried about it. Guys talk about it — the league isn’t doing enough to protect the players,” Mitchell said. “A couple of years back, a 20-game suspension was a message. You’d be missing games, you get a big chunk of money taken from your pocket — a quarter of your salary gone. Those suspensions had gotten the game safer — still physical, still fast. Shanny (Brendan Shanahan) did a great job. But it’s not like that now.”

Mitchell went on to explain that players “talk about it here in the dressing room, but don’t say much (publicly) because they think they’re going to get fined.” Perhaps recent events, plus Mitchell’s example, will change some players’ minds about how public they are with this belief.

Some NHLers are already vocal about the length of suspensions — or lack thereof — when it comes to big hits. The lack of lengthy punishment for Philadelphia’s Wayne Simmonds after he sucker-punched New York Ranger Ryan McDonagh into an IR stint; the severity of Blues’ winger Ryan Reave’s high hit on Sharks’ defender Matt Tennyson; and the length of Duncan Keith’s suspension after high-sticking Charlie Coyle are just a very select few from one season.

Could this evolve into current players talking not just about a hit being "too high" or "dirty" into more open talks about the effects of head injuries? And are Mitchell's comments the first step toward more speaking out about concussions?

Former players already took that step a couple years ago with the lawsuit against the NHL, claiming the league knew more than it let on about the dangers of head trauma and didn't properly educate players about them. Unsealed documents among NHL and team executives, published in the Associated Press and the Globe & Mail a couple weeks ago, add to the discussion.

As Chris Peters of CBS Sports points out, one big takeaway from the slough of documents is that Shanahan, former VP of Player Safety, was up-front about taking a stance against fighting in hockey, as it led to head injury, only to be met with opposition from then-Senior VP Colin Campbell:

Shanahan wants the NHL to be first on strengthening rules against fighting and while he doesn’t outright say it, what he wants to do effectively quashes the need for enforcers. 

The NHL would eventually be beaten to the punch on stronger fighting rules by junior hockey leagues throughout the U.S. and Canada. After receiving an email regarding a story about the new rules coming to junior hockey, Shanahan responded once again expressing his desire for the league act themselves. 

“I believe fighting as a tool or strategy is leaving the game of hockey and we can either lead or follow,” Shanahan wrote. 

“Not so sure how drastic we take the lead if that is what your (sic) suggesting,” Campbell replied. 

That brings us back to Mitchell’s suggestion that the league punished hits to the head more severely when Shanahan was the Player Safety rep and that it needs to do more now. Take some of the discussion from the sealed emails and add Mitchell’s commentary, and it’s a wonder if other current players — maybe others also suffering from multiple concussions — step up and have something to say.

Friedman is probably right — this is going to get worse before any resolution is found.