Marc Savard Talks Matt Cooke Hit and Life After Concussion
By Duncan Day
Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard announces in February 2011 that he was being shut down for the season. (Elise Amendola, AP)
Marc Savard Speaks
All loyal Boston Bruins‘ fans know of Marc Savard and what he brought to the franchise during an illustrious career at the Garden. Unfortunately, multiple concussions sidelined him indefinitely, and it appears his life on the ice has come to an end, having not played since the 2010-11 season when Matt Cooke blasted his head on a cheap hit.
According to Yahoo’s Puck Daddy blog, Savard “still experiences issues from his concussions, like migraines and during hot weather, seeing ‘dots,’ as he described it.”
The 36-year-old is still under contract with the Bruins, as Boston is a place he can call home.
“[Boston] was probably one of my favorite cities to play in, for sure,” Marc Savard said. “And I’ll never forget the crowd and obviously, the general manager, Peter Chiarelli. He was just great for me and my whole career and really helped me. It was such a classy more by them to do it. I didn’t expect it.”
Marc Savard hasn’t really forgiven Cooke for inflicting his career-ending hit, and has expressed disappointment in the NHL’s measures against the current Minnesota Wild winger. Since ’10, Cooke has been suspended for dirty play multiple times.
“At the end of the day, it’s a game and it’s a physical one and obviously, he’s made some bad decisions, I think,” he said. “I sit back and watch … what’s it going to take for them to finally put the books to this guy? It hasn’t happened yet. I don’t know if they’re waiting for someone to get paralyzed or something bad, really bad … I just don’t understand it really, to be quite honest.”
But he knows that the league doesn’t have enough information about the true effects of concussions.
“[The NHL is] doing what they can do,” Savard said. “They don’t know a lot about it either. It’s something everybody’s trying to learn as quick as they can, but it’s such a tough situation with the brain. There’s just not enough knowledge of it right now. They’re trying. They’re trying their best.”