Bettman again denies CTE link in response to U.S. Senator

Gary Bettman isn't wavering from his stance that a link between concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) can't yet be made.

The NHL commissioner stuck to his position in a response to U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, who sent a letter to Bettman demanding answers in June.

“The science regarding CTE, including on the asserted ‘link’ to concussions that you reference, remains nascent, particularly with respect to what causes CTE and whether it can be diagnosed by specific clinical symptoms,” the commissioner wrote in his reply to Senator Blumenthal, according to John Branch of The New York Times.

"The relationship between concussions and the asserted clinical symptoms of CTE remains unknown," Bettman added in a 24-page document filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, where the league is fighting an ongoing class-action lawsuit filed by many former players alleging they weren't informed about the long-term effects of head injuries.

The commissioner also cited the need for scientific consensus rather than relying on "speculation and fear mongering."

Blumenthal wrote a letter to Bettman last month requesting a response by July 23.

The Senator posed nine questions to the commissioner, including, "Do you believe there is a link between CTE and hockey?" and "Do you dispute that the documented CTE of former NHL players, like Derek Boogaard, is linked to injuries sustained while playing in the NHL?"

Boogaard, a former NHL enforcer, was diagnosed with CTE following his death in 2011. The disease can only be identified posthumously.

Bettman has long denied a link between concussions suffered while playing hockey and CTE, a disease scientists say is caused by repeated blows to the head.

NFL senior vice president and chief security officer Jeffrey B. Miller acknowledged a link between CTE and football in March.

- With h/t to Puck Daddy