The protocol is designed to ensure players are receiving care that reflects the most up-to-date medical consensus on the identification, diagnosis, and treatment of concussions.

If that’s the case, it calls serious question the NHL’s concussion protocol, basically leaving the decision to stay in the game up to the player, which it is specifically designed to prevent.

is officially in the league's concussion protocol after suffering a head injury in the Week 11 loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. Spears was forced to leave the game late in the fourth quarter.

The problem is not that the NHL has a concussion protocol, the real problem is that it lacks teeth in a big way. That much was evident when Dennis Wideman was involved in an incident with a ...