NHL to implement concussion spotters for every game this season

With head injuries becoming a growing concern, the NHL is incorporating some changes to its concussion protocol.

The NHL will place independent "spotters" in all 30 arenas at every game during the 2015-16 season to help determine if a player is exhibiting visual signs of a concussion, deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed to Le Journal de Montreal on Monday.

The premier ice hockey league had instituted a new concussion protocol during the 2010-11 campaign that required players suspected of having a concussion to sit in a quiet room without distraction in order to efficiently be examined by team doctors for a minimum of 15 minutes. Players who passed the exam were then permitted to return to the game.

American Football's the NFL has entered its fourth season of using independent spotters.

For the first time this year, independent spotters will have the authority to stop a game if a player exhibits noticeable concussion symptoms.

The NHL is facing a lawsuit from more than 60 former players who claim the league avoided its responsibility to forewarn players of the effects and dangers of head traumas. The plaintiffs' class-action suit, which came just months after 4,500 former NFL players reached a $765 million settlement with the NFL over similar concussion-related complaints, covers about 5,000 living former players who seek unspecified damages and NHL-sponsored medical monitoring for neurological disorders and other concussion-related health problems.