Quote:
Originally Posted by stemit14
No doctor is going to force a player to play if they insist that their back/neck/head hurts. They could run every test imaginable, find nothing, and any doctor would still lean to the side of caution and put the player on LTIR. What are they going to do? Say you’re faking it and make them get back out there?
I agree that Stone likely has some level of injury/discomfort but I would bet that the length of his status on LTIR is not going to be dictated by his injury or recovery but by how it helps the team manage the cap.
There is so much grey area in the use of LTIR that it lends itself to teams taking advantage of it to the point that they are circumventing the cap.
As for those that doubt a player like Stone would choose to sit out rather than play… I think lots of guys would be willing to do it for the sake of the team. I’ll put out this potential scenario that I suggested a few weeks ago would happen:
Management: “Hey Mark, heard you were getting looked at from the Doc. How are you feeling?”
Stone: “Ok. The same old back pain I’ve been fighting for a few years now.”
Management: “Well as you know we’re in a bit of a tight bind with the salary cap. We think this team has what it takes to go all the way this year. But either way, we’re going to have to make some tough choices in the offseason. Doubt we’ll be able to keep this team as deep as it is right now so this might be the best shot we get. So I want to make sure everyone is 100% for playoffs. Don’t want to have to trade a bunch of guys to make room for eichel only to have some of our other top guys make their injuries worse and be at 80% after we’ve made some trades. So what I’m saying is, if you’re feeling any discomfort at all, I think we should rest you up for a while to make sure you’re 100%. You’re a leader for this team so I know you’d hate to lose some of the other important guys to trades when we’re so close to being as good as we can be. I hope you won’t let the guys down by playing through anything.”
Stone: “Well I’ve played through it before and been fine but if it means keeping our team together and giving us a shot at the cup, I’m willing to rest up.”
Management: “You’re a great leader for us, Mark. We’re going to need everything you’ve got come playoffs. Just let the doctor know you feel you need the rest and we can get the paperwork started.”
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It is crazy to suggest that a competitive player is going to sit out a long period of time because his team wants him to do so just for salary cap purposes. Stone is a competitor and a leader. He will want to be playing and competing and leading by example. The type of player who will sit out when they think they can play are not the player you win games with. You win games with Stone. The players who would rather sit at home and not play are likely to be extremely rare in the NHL.