Laperriere's Advice: Don't Return Too Quickly
(from the Courier-Post)
By Chuck Gormley
Courier-Post Staff
February 13, 2011 - Ian Laperriere has two words of advice for Sidney Crosby and the thousands of other hockey players who have their "bell rung" each year:
Be honest.
"I know he's the face of the league, but at the end of the day he's a human being like everybody else," said Laperriere, whose 16-year NHL career was effectively ended by a concussion last spring. "He needs to take the time and wait until he's 100 percent. There's no rush."
Laperriere, 37, speaks from experience. He was struck by a slapshot above his left eye on April 22 in the fifth and final game of the Flyers' first-round playoff victory over the New Jersey Devils and two days later was diagnosed with a brain contusion. Laperriere spent the next 26 days watching the Flyers continue their quest for the Stanley Cup and was hailed as the ultimate warrior when, despite persistent headaches, he returned for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Montreal Canadiens and played the final eight games.
"I was in denial," Laperriere said. "I knew it was dangerous -- really dangerous -- and I did it."
Laperriere blames his decision to return to the lineup on his passionate desire to experience the thrill of the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in his career. Keith Primeau, who persevered through similar concussion symptoms during the Flyers' 2004 run to the Eastern Conference Finals, says he was also a victim of his own competitive stubbornness.
Unlike Primeau and many other players forced to retire because of concussions, Laperriere has few lingering symptoms from his concussion. He is able to work out without headaches or nausea, but when he skates his left eye is still sensitive to the reflection of the lights on the ice.
Which brings us to Crosby.
Laperriere believes the 23-year-old Penguins captain -- yes, he's only 23 -- made a mistake by playing in the Penguins' Jan. 5 game against Tampa Bay, four days after he was dropped by David Steckel in an open-ice collision during the Winter Classic. He says it's a mistake that has been repeated over and over for as long as hockey has been in existence.
"Whether you're 36 or 23 we all want to compete," Laperriere said. "Every time you have a headache after a game you're in denial. He was and he played the next game. We've been programmed since we were little guys to shake it off and play. It makes no difference whether it's a knee, an elbow or your head."
For all the heat the Penguins took for allowing Crosby to return to action four days after taking a blow to the head, Laperriere said it's the player who needs to report concussion symptoms and that is not as easy as it sounds.
"If I'm a fourth-line guy and I have to take two or three months off, I won't be able to find a job when I come back," Laperriere said. "Plus, I'll be labeled by my coaches. If I don't finish my checks I might sit on the bench for a while and not play the next game. He might not tell me anything but he'll sit me for 10 minutes. You know the next time I'm out there, I'm making sure I hit the first player I see.
"The bottom line is players are having little symptoms and if they don't want to sit out for six months they're going to lie about it to keep their jobs."
While fourth-line forwards may hide concussion symptoms to keep their jobs, top-line players like Crosby and Bruins forward Marc Savard, who last week announced he would sit out the remainder of the season with a concussion, face different pressures.
The Penguins learned last week that Evgeni Malkin will be sidelined six months with a knee injury. They entered this weekend with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference. Advising Crosby to sit out the remainder of the season would be tantamount to telling their fans they are abandoning all attempts to win a Stanley Cup, which two months ago seemed a real possibility.
"Let's face it, this is a big business," Laperriere said. "And when your best player gets hurt, your chances of winning go down. An owner can put a lot of pressure on a doctor to change his mind. In Pittsburgh, they know Malkin's out. They can say to Crosby, "Are you sure you don't feel good?' They can call you every day to see how you're feeling. I'm not saying that's what's going on in Pittsburgh, but if I was an owner who wanted to win I might do the same thing."
Laperriere believes one way to eliminate those outside pressures is for the NHL to employ an independent panel of concussion specialists that have no affiliation to individual teams.
"We keep talking about it, but we're not doing anything about it," Laperriere said. "If a player is told he has to sit out four months, that's it. The team has no say over whether he can come back earlier."
To be fair, the NHL has tried everything to curb concussions. To date, league vice president Colin Campbell has handed out 132 suspensions since the 2005-06 lockout and has tried, unsuccessfully, to outlaw blindside hits.
But as long as there are 6-foot-9 defensemen like Zdeno Chara playing against 5-foot-7 forwards like Marty St. Louis, Laperriere believes the NHL will be forced to deal with concussions and plenty of them.
Reach Chuck Gormley at cgormley@courierpostonline.com