Quote:
Originally Posted by dissentowner
Yes. People also understand he was skating well two months before the playoffs began and clearly could have returned before the regular season ended. It was a smart play on the organizations part but they clearly took advantage of the system.
|
Seguin and Kucherov both played in the finals last year, both suffered torn labrums.
Seguin had the surgery for his torn labrum on November 2nd. Started skating with teammates April 15th, and Seguin returned May 3rd. He only played in 3 games.
So that was 6 months from surgery date to his first game back.
Kucherov had his torn labrum repaired on December 28th, started skating with the team on April 16th, and he returned in the playoffs on May 16th.
So that's actually a faster recover than Seguin when looking from time of surgery to playing games.
So I guess there are two questions there. Why did it take to December for Kucherov's surgery (sounds like they hoped they could rehab it and it failed), and why did it take a month from skating with the team for him to return to the lineup.
I guess you could argue that Kucherov could have returned about two weeks earlier, but the funny thing is I remember they could have fit him on the roster then if they wanted to since they had Stamkos on LTIR and Hedman was injured at the end of the season too. So honestly I would have found it shadier if somehow they put those two on LTIR and suddenly Kucherov came back to get some game action to shake off the rust before the playoffs.
Was it a bit sneaky from Tampa Bay? For sure. Did they time it perfectly so Kucherov was just ready to return for the playoffs? 100% But I honestly don't think a healthy Kucherov was sitting out (they had the LTIR room to play him with Stamkos and Hedman injured), I think they just strategically timed his rehab so he was ready for the playoffs. Smart move by them.