Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a type of brain damage that has been found in 18 of 19 deceased former National Hockey League (NHL) players, according to a 2024 report by the Boston University CTE Center, which has led the effort to diagnose CTE cases. The NHL has not acknowledged a link between playing Ice hockey and being diagnosed, with league commissioner Gary Bettman claiming that isolated cases of players with CTE did not necessarily come from playing in the NHL.
List Deceased players with CTE confirmed post-mortem A common definitive test currently can be made only by examining the brain tissue of a deceased victim. As of December 2024, 18 of 19 NHL players whose brains had been autopsied had CTE.
As the vast majority of deceased former players have not had specialized autopsies done on their brains—the first such autopsy was not performed until 2009, the following list may show a small fraction of NHL players who have had CTE.
Ralph Backstrom Wade Belak Derek Boogaard Lyndon Byers Todd Ewen Reg Fleming Bobby Hull Greg JohnsonNHL veteran, former Nashville Predators captain Greg Johnson diagnosed with CTE Dan Maloney Rick Martin Stan Mikita Steve Montador Bob MurdochFamily of Bob Murdoch says 2-time Stanley Cup winner suffered from stage 3 CTE Jeff Parker Bob Probert Henri Richard Chris SimonFormer NHL enforcer Chris Simon diagnosed with stage 3 CTE Marek Svatoš Zarley Zalapski Larry Zeidel
See also Chronic traumatic encephalopathy in sports Sports-related traumatic brain injury Violence in ice hockey
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