2023-11-10 03:40:44
One can imagine the delicate position in which Dr. David Mulder had been working for years.
Published yesterday at 10:40 p.m.
On the one hand, as a doctor, he knows all too well the dangers of blows to the head. On the other hand, he worked for 60 years for a club, the Canadian, which is a member of a league which refuses to severely sanction fights, and which denies any link between hockey and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease discovered in many former players who have donated their brains to science.
On Thursday, Dr. Mulder, former head physician of the Canadiens, was celebrated for his 60 years of service to the team. The practitioner has, without a bad pun, dropped the gloves.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Serge Savard, Stéphanie Riddell, CEO of the Montreal General Hospital Foundation, Dr. David Mulder and Guy Carbonneau
“If I compare to 1963, the NHL has made great progress in terms of equipment,” noted Dr. Mulder at a press briefing. The helmets are better and the league is aware of concussions. We have made progress from this point of view. The tests are much better. […] The league has understood that concussions must be treated more seriously. Among doctors, the watchword is “when in doubt, remove the player from the match” [if in doubt, sit them out]. »
We are heading in the right direction, but we have not arrived at our destination. I wish the fighting would be eliminated. Do you know what the purpose of a fight is? It is to produce a brain injury, a concussion. I watched Olympic hockey, there are no fights. I would like to see fighting abolished, but that is not a popular opinion.
Dr. David Mulder
The QMJHL took action in this direction last spring by penalizing bare-knuckle fights more severely. This decision sparked an outcry, a deep skepticism displayed in many hockey circles. The Press had learned about it from draft prospects last June.
In our small sample on Thursday, however, opinions were divided. On the one hand, Mike Keane, who now works in player development with the Winnipeg Jets, says he believes that fights “still have their place, but [que] if we eliminate them, as was done in Quebec, there is nothing wrong with that.” “The players will adapt,” added the former CH captain. Dr. Mulder sees things every day, he has knowledge to support his point of view. »
On the other side, Serge Savard, a long-time opponent of fights, recalled the impenetrable “wall” that has always existed: “the team owners who were terrified that attendance would decrease if we removed that”. “It’s something that can be resolved in 5 minutes and it hasn’t been resolved for 60 years,” lamented the former CEO of CH.
Guy Carbonneau went in the same direction. “Personally, I would do like in Europe. You can’t stop them, you can’t prevent them. But if you fight, you’re out, and when it becomes a couple, you’re suspended. I wouldn’t say the bullying is gone, it’s still part of the game, but I don’t see the need anymore [des bagarres] NOW. »
A preventable death?
The tragic accident suffered by Adam Johnson two weeks ago in England was also one of the subjects addressed by Dr. Mulder during his fascinating fifteen-minute press briefing.
During the doctor’s years of service, two throat cutting events were notable: that of goalie Clint Malarchuk in 1989, and that of Richard Zednik, then with the Panthers, in 2008. Both not only survived, they continued to play. Malarchuk even returned to training four days later.
Could Johnson’s death have been avoided in the NHL?
“It’s a good question that all NHL doctors have asked themselves,” admitted Dr. Mulder straight away. But it wasn’t a cut like Malarchuk’s or Zednik’s. It was a kick with the heel of the blade and it severed his main artery. »
The problem was that no one was there to put pressure on the wound. In Buffalo, for Zednik, Dr. [Les] Bisson was there, he laid him on the ice and immediately put pressure on the wound. Pressure on the wound is key. We maintained this pressure all the way to the hospital, and in the operating room, we were able to control the bleeding.
Dr. David Mulder
The problem, according to Dr. Mulder, is that there was “no healer, no doctor. He literally bled to death on the ice and may have been dead before he even got to the hospital. In the NHL, we have a full medical team and a trauma surgeon present at every game. When Trent McCleary collapsed, we were in the operating room at the Montreal General Hospital in 17 minutes. But for Johnson, I don’t know if he could have been saved, because it was a very serious injury [a savage injury] ».
The mention of McCleary’s injury, hit in the throat by a puck, is obviously not accidental. It was possibly the biggest emergency the doctor has witnessed during a game, and it sparked changes.
“Back then, doctors sat in the stands. Pierre Boivin [l’ancien président de l’équipe], as an afterthought, said doctors should be directly behind the bench, 25 feet from the clinic. This rule is now applied throughout the NHL. »
Johnson’s death could also lead to changes, mainly regarding the wearing of neck guards. Brendan Gallagher and Michael Pezzetta also tested it at the Canadian’s training on Wednesday.
“For this to change, equipment must be compulsory at all levels,” believes Dr. Mulder. Hockey is a fun sport, it should not be associated with death. »
And bref
Why Price no longer plays
Dr. Mulder cited Saku Koivu’s return to the game in 2002 as the greatest moment of his career. The worst ? The defeat on April 29, 1994, in the seventh game of a first round series against the Bruins, after Patrick Roy’s appendectomy. Carey Price’s knee injuries are also one of the worst moments of his career. “It was very frustrating for us and it was doubly so for him. He had a meniscus injury. The doctor [Robert] Marx operated on it in New York. And during the operation, he noted that the femur had lost all of its cartilage, a piece the size of a 50-cent coin. That was a surprise, and that’s what ended his career. »
A report that was “disturbing”
The last years of Dr. Mulder were marked by an unenviable record for the Canadian, who concluded the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 seasons first in the NHL for games missed due to injuries (or last, depending on ). This assessment has also led to numerous changes in the Habs’ medical team this summer. “It bothered everyone,” Dr. Mulder agreed. We must always look at the causes. They were usually real injuries. You can’t prevent a fracture from a blocked shot or a dislocated shoulder. What we wondered was if we had allowed the players to return as quickly as any other team. And we think so. »
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