Two years ago, I broke the story of the incident in which former wrestler Verne Gagne attacked a weakened elderly man in a nursing home that specialized in the care of Alzheimer’s and dementia patients. That man, Helmut Gutmann–a member of my church who I was personally acquainted with–died from his injuries.

I followed that story up with another examining the possibility that Gagne’s condition might have been brought on by the punishment that his brain took over the course of a wrestling career that lasted more than three decades.

That story was purely speculative. Do I regret writing it? Given the conversation it sparked, no. Not in the slightest. My fervent hope is that researchers are given the opportunity to study Verne’s brain, too. And I know from speaking with them that researchers hope the same thing.

I frankly don’t think it is too soon to discuss the possibility that Boogaard’s death is related to traumatic encephalopathy. Because contrary to what Zimmerman contends, we do have some facts on our side, even without yet knowing what was his cause of death.

•  Boogaard’s last game was Dec. 9. He missed more than 50 games last season because of a concussion he suffered after fighting and apparently slamming his head into the sheet of ice in Ottawa.

• It was the 70th fight in the 277 games of Boogaard’s NHL career as “an enforcer.” That equals one fight every four games.

• As John Saunders of ESPN reported, Boogaard had been complaining of recent headaches.

• He and his brother ran a “hockey fighting class” in Sakatchewan, which suggests that the pummeling his brain took also occurred outside of the confines of the game itself.

• His family has asked that researchers in Boston take Boogaard’s brain and study it for signs of traumatic brain injury.

Add in the fact that that the CDC calls suicide the second leading cause of death among 24- to 35-year-olds, and you’ve got the grist for some serious questions, and yes, even speculation. Even about the possibility that this was a suicide. Boogaard was 28.

I did not indicate that I knew what had happened to Boogaard. I made allowances for the fact that something other than brain injury caused by the NHL’s barbaric tolerance for fighting on the ice might have caused it. Maybe, like the jazz great Eric Dolphy, Boogaard died from undiagnosed diabetes. Somehow, I doubt it.

Understandable sensitivities like Zimmerman’s aside, I do not think it is wrong to raise these questions.

The evidence is powerful is that violent sports from boxing to football to professional wrestling and hockey are turning living human brains into masses of toxified tissue that ruin and end the lives of athletes. In the case of hockey, that probably has to do with the permissiveness with which it treats the violent attacks of players against each other that, off the ice, would result in criminal assault charges.

That’s a situation that cries out for scrutiny. And, yes, speculation. Every question ever raised, after all, has been the direct product of speculation.

Again, Christopher, many thanks for your thoughtful feedback.