Player Agent Allan Walsh Torches NHL Over Lack of Action Regarding Head Injuries
The job of a player's agent is simply to represent the interests, in any respect, of his clients, and no agent does that more vocally than Allan Walsh of Octagon Hockey. With 189 current and former NHLers under their umbrella, Octagon is one of the largest player agencies in North America, and Walsh is probably their loudest agent.
Walsh used to be a gang crime prosecutor, and since shifting his focus to hockey, he has been one of the biggest advocates for players' rights in and around the NHL. One frontier he is most present is the battle over head injuries, concussions, and specifically CTE. Today, he went on a Twitter-tirade, calling out the NHL over their inaction on the subject:
As critical as Walsh has been to the NHL, he is not shy about going to war for his players, and the simple fact is without the players there is no game. So we should be grateful for people like him.
As far as the NHL goes, they have been dismissive and lackadaisical in response to the bevy of information discovered regarding head injuries. In response to a study performed by 14 leading experts, the NHL's Deputy Commissioner gave the following response:
rely on the consensus opinion of medical experts to guide us. Currently that consensus view does not align with the conclusions reached in the article
you forwarded."
With that response, it is clear the NHL is not interested in being proactive regarding head injuries, which is disconcerting. The NHL's history with CTE is not pretty. NHLers Stan Mikita, Bob Probert, Derek Boogaard, Jeff Parker, Wade Belak, Larry Zeidel, Reggie Fleming, Rick Martin, Steve Montador, Zarley Zalapski, Todd Ewen and Dan Maloney were all confirmed to have suffered from CTE upon their deaths. Head injuries are a serious threat to players' livelihoods, and people like Allan Walsh holding the league accountable are the only way to get in front of the issue.
Canadian and hockey legend Ken Dryden appeared on Walsh's 'Agent Provocateur' podcast to discuss the issue and offer an alternate way forward:
The NHL tends to be slow in its adaptation to new parameters, so this isn't exactly surprising. Head injuries aren't going anywhere, and if the league continues to drag their feet, the injuries and lawsuits could begin to stack up.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Logan Cooley | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| William Nylander | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Guenther | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Kesselring | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Fraser Minten | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mikhail Sergachev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Chris Tanev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| John Tavares | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Simon Benoit | - | - | - | |
| Nick Bjugstad | - | - | - | |
| Michael Carcone | - | - | - | |
| Ian Cole | - | - | - | |
| Lawson Crouse | - | - | - | |
| Connor Dewar | - | - | - | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | - | - | - | |
| Barrett Hayton | - | - | - | |
| Pontus Holmberg | - | - | - | |
| Clayton Keller | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||