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Maple Leafs' Babcock says 'I don't quite get' part of concussion protocol

Steve Russell / Toronto Star / Getty

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock might be a little bit shortsighted when it comes to concussions in the NHL.

The Maple Leafs bench boss addressed the media following a 3-2 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils in career game 1,000, and the focus turned to the league's concussion protocol.

"Well, I think when a player says he’s okay to play and keeps playing, he’s okay to play," Babcock said, according to Dave Feschuk of the Toronto Star.

Information that led to the introduction of the league's new concussion protocol suggests otherwise, while further studies have pointed to potential long-term injuries due to concussions.

Babcock was blunt in insisting that when it comes to special teams players going down specifically, he tends to apply pressure to the team's trainers.

"I put an unbelievable amount of duress on my poor trainer when he’s taking some player off the ice who should be killing the next penalty," Babcock said. "You have no idea how kind I am during that interaction."

Babcock went a step further, admitting he doesn't fully understand the point of having a dark room, where players are checked for concussion-like symptoms by team trainers under their own suspicions or those of a spotter.

"On our team, when someone is unconscious or dazed or looks like they’re supposed to go to - what do they call it? - the dark room or whatever. I mean, some of these things aren’t even anything. They’re going to a dark room? I don’t quite get that," he said.

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