(Image source: The Buffalo News)

You're watching multisource sports news analysis from Newsy.

BY SAM KOROTKIN

ANCHOR CHRISTINA HARTMAN

The hockey world was saddened and shocked when former Buffalo Sabres’ great, Rick Martin died of a heart attack in March.

But Wednesday brought news that surprised many. Martin had a brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative disease linked to multiple head injuries.

But the issue with Martin: he’s the first non-enforcer to be diagnosed, sparking concern for all hockey players. NBC Sports’ Matt Reitz writes...

“From a physical standpoint, Martin was a normal hockey player. In fact, during his era, you could almost consider him a finesse player—so for Martin to be diagnosed with CTE makes one wonder about an entire generation of hockey players.”

During his 14-year career, Martin engaged in only 14 fights, and had only one documented concussion. So how do we prevent this from happening in sports? The NHL has implemented a new set of rules for this season to help limit the damage.

Canada’s CBC covers the issue extensively -- and talked to Christopher Nowinski of Boston University. His suggestion: take early action.

“Well where this is really most important is at the youth levels. We have to remember that the brain of children is much more vulnerable to this sort of brain trauma and it can probably cause longer lasting damage and so we’ve even found this disease in 17 and 18 year old football players.”

This past summer, the NHL saw the death three active players- all enforcers- two of them ruled suicide. CBC also talked with neurologist Dr. Robert Cantu, who worries there might be a connection.

“We have also had a number of brains come to us, mostly from NFL players who committed suicide, and their brains have shown chronic traumatic encephalopathy. So anytime I hear of an athlete who has had a lot of head trauma who commits suicide, I am immediately concerned that [CTE] may have played a role.”

Canada’s CTV took a bigger picture look at the effects of CTE and says...

“Lumping their deaths together does a disservice to the complex reasons why anyone falls into depression or chooses to end their lives. … no matter how hard anyone tries to understand why these players died, none of us ever will, because we were neither there with them on their final night, nor knew what was going on in their heads.”