NHL TEAMS SURELY NEED TIME TO SHAKE THE RUST
It will be difficult for players to jump right into playoffs following such a long layoff
While we’re all trying to avoid getting sick these days, NHLers are busy trying to get healthy.
The last time hockey was played, Vancouver Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom was recovering from a minor procedure on his knee, Calgary Flames defenceman Travis Hamonic was still out with an upper-body injury and Edmonton Oilers defenceman Mike Green was halfway through a four-week healing process from what is believed to be a sprained MCL.
The rest of the league, meanwhile, was playing through the usual bumps and bruises that come from crashing into one another for the past five months.
So when the NHL was forced to shut its doors due to the spreading coronavirus on March 12, it provided everyone with a much-needed opportunity to rest, recover and recuperate. Who knows, maybe this break will be permanent and the only thing players will be resting for is the start of the 2020-21 season. But if some form of hockey is to be played again this year, Flames captain Mark Giordano believes fans are in for a treat.
“It could be best playoffs ever,” he said in an online conference call on Friday.
Connor McDavid, who rushed back into the Edmonton lineup after injuring his leg last month but then missed his team’s last game on March 9, agreed.
“If we can get back to playing, I think it could be some of the best playoffs you’ve ever seen, where everyone’s healthy, everyone’s rested,” said the Oilers captain. “It could be real exciting hockey.”
Then again, it could be dangerous hockey. Rest is good for the body. Too much of it, however, can lead to rust. And with no ice rinks to skate on and no gyms to work out in — as of Friday, some were still awaiting the delivery of a Peloton bike for cardio purposes — players are not exactly priming their bodies in the way they usually would during a layoff.
If this hiatus stretches into two months or more, you cannot expect the best players to simply log off Netflix, get off their couch and skate right into the playoffs. Asking them to play regular season games immediately might even be a stretch. To avoid injury, teams are going to need a proper training camp for players to get back into shape. They may require some exhibition games.
“I don’t think we can just step into playoffs and Game 1, Calgary comes to Edmonton and guys are running around trying to kill each other and you haven’t played a game in two months,” said McDavid. “It’ll end up the Stockton Heat against the Bakersfield Condors (Calgary’s and Edmonton’s AHL affiliates, respectively) if that’s the case.
“We want to keep guys healthy and we want to make sure that everyone’s up and ready to play some playoff hockey.”
Here’s what we know: an 82-game regular season is punishing on the body. The Columbus Blue Jackets have already lost more than 400 man-games to injury. The Pittsburgh Penguins, who have lost more than 300 man-games to injury, have played large chunks of this season without Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and three of their top four defencemen.
By the time the playoffs occur, it becomes a battle of attrition. It’s not always the best teams that win — it’s also the healthiest.
When the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2015 Stanley Cup final, they did so in part because Tyler Johnson had broken his wrist and goaltender Ben Bishop injured his knee. Two years later, Nashville was no match for Pittsburgh once top-line centre Ryan Johansen went down with a thigh injury in the conference final. And while Zdeno Chara played through a broken jaw in Game 7 against the St. Louis Blues last year, we can’t imagine the Boston Bruins captain was himself.
Even with this time off, some players will still be playing through injury or will get hurt when the NHL eventually returns. That’s just the nature of the game and the reality of a time in the season where the physicality is amped up to a level unseen in the regular season. But having everyone healthy and rested puts every team on equal footing. mtraikos@postmedia.com Twitter.com/Michael_Traikos
We want to keep guys healthy and we want to make sure that everyone’s up and ready to play some playoff hockey.