Following the NFL's lead, the NHL will now have their own version of concussion spotters in the stands who can remove players from the game if they spot concussion symptoms, according to Renaud Lavoie of TVA. While it's never bad to see leagues doing more for player health, especially when it comes to head trauma, there are legitimate reasons to doubt the efficacy of these spotters.The NFL's version is mostly about correcting one high-profile, glaring oversight from last year's Super Bowl, when Julian Edelman had obvious symptoms but remained in the game—and played well—for a vital drive. Now, if the spotter sees a woozy player, he or she can stop the game from the press box, forcing the player to sit out for at least one play and undergo the concussion protocol. Edelman passed the concussion protocol when he returned to the sideline, which only underscores the silliness of this concussion spotter role.The NHL's version is even more puzzling. As Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo's Puck Daddy points out, the NHL's spotters will sit in the stands, don't have to be trained medical professionals, and will be employed by the home team. Even the NFL was smart enough to know these are all terrible ideas, as their spotters must have a minimum of 10 years experience as a certified athletic trainer and will be employed by the league to prevent possible conflicts of interest. In theory, there's nothing stopping me from being the Islanders' concussion spotter, which I would certainly accept, but also undermines the whole concept.It's incredibly unlikely the spotters for either league will affect a game, positively or negatively. This is, of course, a feature, not a bug. Even the NFL says they don't expect spotters to interfere very often. "The expectation is not that this is a frequent occurrence, because there are so many other people who can also identify the injury," NFL Senior Vice President of Health and Safety Jeff Miller told the Boston Globe. It begs the question of whether this is really solving any problem, or if it's just another way each league can say they're doing something to address the problem without doing much of anything at all.