[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Bingo

But why would a sports team force a player to start the season hurt and not ready when it's 82 games and the team is expected to make the playoffs.

Doesn't make a lick of sense.

Tanev was greenlit by surgeons and doctors and he played.

I don’t think it is a Flames specific problem. Just the whole culture of playing through injuries. I mean there is only so much the team can do if the player doesn’t reach out for help but at some point trainers need to step in.
The following should not have happened.

Spoiler!

“If I bent down, my hip would lock and it would stay locked,” explained Monahan.

“It would take a few seconds to unlock. When you’re taking faceoffs throughout games and you bend down and it’s stuck, it sucks.”

Johnny Gaudreau, Monahan’s best friend on the team, got a first-hand look at the daily pain Monahan endured.

“I remember it like it was yesterday, playing in Vancouver and me Lindy (Elias Lindholm) and Monny always get off the ice first and walk back to the hotel for our pre-game meal and naps,” he said of a jaunt made before Game 13.

“It’s a quarter-mile walk and Monny is limping the whole way. It’s shocking to me this guy can barely walk from the rink to the hotel, and he’s getting up to play games. He’s been like that his whole career where he’s had an injury and plays through it. It shows the type of guy and leader he is. He’s earned that “A” on his jersey and he does a great job wearing it.”

Refusing to take painkillers despite having trouble sleeping through the pain, Monahan counted on the training staff to mask a problem that didn’t get better.