Drouin takes indefinite leave...goes on LTIR

[transplant99]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1387418929052766211

[GioforPM]

It’s Lyme disease.

[CroFlames]

He can be placed on LTIR if he's taking time away for personal reasons?

[nik-]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

He can be placed on LTIR if he's taking time away for personal reasons?

Canada changed the quarantine requirements so the Habs could make a trade. This is nothing.

[Toonage]

Last I read he was away with a non covid illness. Hoping for the best but the cynic/awful human being in me wonders if this is about keeping Caufield in the lineup until the end of the season while keeping their allowable callups.

[GordonBlue]

not saying it's the case here, but if a player is trying to deal with mental health issues it would be on the LTIR, correct?

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by GordonBlue

not saying it's the case here, but if a player is trying to deal with mental health issues it would be on the LTIR, correct?

True. But without details I will just assume the club is up to no good.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

True. But without details I will just assume the club is up to no good.

The player still has to agree to this. The team cannot simply decide to do this without some involvement with doctors and without the player's say-so. I would assume that Drouin wants to play, and that the only way to have him concede to being placed on LTIR is if he is not able to do so for whatever reason.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Then why put it this way in a press release? Just say, "Drouin has been placed on LTIR indefinitely. This is unrelated to COVID-19. The Canadiens organization will not be releasing any further details."

[Cali Panthers Fan]

As someone who has watched the pandemic take a toll on the mental health of just about everyone around him, I do not doubt that it could legitimately be for mental health reasons. My sister is still recovering from a nervous breakdown. Things have been tough for everyone, and some people have stuff going on below the surface that cannot be physically seen, but is none the less debilitating.

For those reasons, let's please stop speculating that this is some dirty underhanded trick by Montreal to manage their roster and let's treat Drouin's issues seriously and with reverence. I don't have any idea what's going on, but it's not a physical injury, so that should say it all.

Wasn't there a Bell #Let'sTalk campaign this year? Did we forget about that already?

[Geeoff]

I imagine it would be mentally taxing to be a top draft pick, score 30 goals in the NHL and then fail to live up to that promise, while being told you have negative value by the sports media constantly

[TheSquatch]

Worthy of its own thread maybe, but Lehner's comments are pretty damning, and I think it shows very clearly what these guys are all going through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovqV_Fsfcd8

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Cali Panthers Fan

As someone who has watched the pandemic take a toll on the mental health of just about everyone around him, I do not doubt that it could legitimately be for mental health reasons. My sister is still recovering from a nervous breakdown. Things have been tough for everyone, and some people have stuff going on below the surface that cannot be physically seen, but is none the less debilitating.

For those reasons, let's please stop speculating that this is some dirty underhanded trick by Montreal to manage their roster and let's treat Drouin's issues seriously and with reverence. I don't have any idea what's going on, but it's not a physical injury, so that should say it all.

Wasn't there a Bell #Let'sTalk campaign this year? Did we forget about that already?

You mean that same Bell that sponsors the Hab's arena..........Nice try.......

I kid, I actually agree with you. None of us know what someone is dealing with and it is best not to speculate.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by TheSquatch

Worthy of its own thread maybe, but Lehner's comments are pretty damning, and I think it shows very clearly what these guys are all going through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovqV_Fsfcd8

Totally worthy of a thread, I hadn’t seen this.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I totally agree with him on the mental health issues not getting enough attention, however, I don't agree with him that the NHL is being unfair in their approach. It depends on what was and was not promised, but in a fluid situation such as COVID I think you have to make the best decisions possible in real time. The situation has changed.
The league can't relax the rules if not enough players have been vaccinated.

[AustinL_NHL]

Yea, I could easily see mental health/COVID being the culprit here.

As a healthy 22-year old who took COVID itself seriously but wasn't overly worried about getting it myself, the post-COVID side effects I've been dealing with 4 months later (still problems with tiredness, and now have Parosmia, which is the worst thing I've ever dealt with my entire life), it's taken a massive toll on me mentally despite me otherwise being very happy with general life.

Lots of people just look at athletes and see the amount of money they make thinking they have it so easy and have nothing to complain about, but while they're obviously in a much better position generally than most people in the sense they don't have to worry about the financial toll COVID has caused, mental health is a serious matter.

With all that said, we don't know for sure that Drouin is dealing with mental health so it could be a completely different reason why he's taking a leave of absence.

[Stillman16]

Originally Posted by TheSquatch

Worthy of its own thread maybe, but Lehner's comments are pretty damning, and I think it shows very clearly what these guys are all going through.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovqV_Fsfcd8

We all are going through the same thing here. I get the feelings of being upset, but really he, and the other players, was/were lied to, but not just with respect to the vaccination.

Now it is obvious that not all players were following what he claimed the protocols were anyway (Vancouver? Washington? for example). And it shows how one, or a few people ignoring (or relaxing on) the rules, can screw it up for EVERYONE!

But the protocols were likely overblown anyway too (at least a little anyway). You can go skate around, celebrate goals, fight, and sit next to each other on the bench with no masks, but you cant hang out at all off the rink???

As for the vaccines, people thinking that as soon as I get MY shots, I can go back to normal...that's a huge lie! Just because YOU are vaccinated, doesn't protect others from YOU infecting them. The vaccine is to lessen the impact on YOU if YOU get infected, hopefully to the point that YOU are asymptomatic (but to prevent severe outcomes in YOU in the least), but you could still then pass the virus on to OTHERS, many of whom haven't had the chance (or are unable) to get the vaccine. There WILL continue to be restrictions until herd immunity has been reached!

Now, the NHL should look at the restrictions a bit closer, and allow the teammates to gather (socially distanced with masks if necessary, meetings, meals, activities that they can monopolize-rent the place out), and once vaccinated, they should be allowed to gather with other vaccinated people, but they should remain in their team bubbles. Players also NEED to remember that the NHL isn't bringing in the revenues they were, and the players could offer to fund their own responsible team building...

This is unlikely to offer much competitive advantage, as all teams could implement, the only outliers would be the Canadian teams, and then only the vaccinated gatherings would be missing until they can get theirs (they should be able to socially distance still).

This is all contingent on the NHL being allowed to alter the protocols, because the protocols are in place at the insistence of the governing bodies where the NHL operates. As such, the NHL may have been going with what they were told by these governing bodies (ie. will be able to ease up-but then another wave hit, sorry no easing up!), and also the "competitive advantage" likely came from one, or all the Canadian teams.

The NHL had to negotiate with the governments to get them to allow the games to be played, so the NHL is likely not keen to go back to the governments to ask for easements to the protocols, especially when citizens are still being asked to follow the guidelines.

But I think if the NHL players were allowed something closer to citizen guidelines, where the team is considered a cohort, but they STAY within that cohort (other than games), that could help address the concerns, while not looking like the government(s) are allowing special rules for yet another rich group of individuals.

[dino7c]

Back for playoffs?