NHL Injuries: The Cone of Silence Descends

A wave of anxiety coursed through Boston on Thursday night, when Joe Thornton disappeared from the Bruins' bench. Thornton left a game against Washington after suffering a wrist injury. Or maybe it was a rib injury. We'll probably never know, because when April arrives all NHL injuries are apparently diagnosed at a secret impenetrable hideaway, like the one Bruce Wayne used in Batman.

Having whisked their captain from the building before the game ended - presumably to a clinic buried deep in a mountainside near Gotham City - the Bruins offered the ever-popular "upper body injury" line. We can expect to know little more of Thornton's condition until he returns to the ice, at which point we can assume he's (more or less) healthy. This is a sure sign that playoff hockey is upon us.

Many, if not most, NHL teams are routinely evasive when it comes to medical information. A player suffering a "sprain" might skip tomorrow's practice, or he might miss the next 40 games. It took almost two weeks for the New Jersey Devils to admit that Brian Rafalski broke his leg on February 28.

But secrecy becomes a league-wide obsession when springtime arrives. The standard reasoning is that when opponents know the exact source of a player's discomfort, they start pounding on that spot when he returns to the lineup. This fear becomes more acute when the same teams play each other night after night, with the season on the line.

Teams submit weekly injury reports, which should presumably wash away the disinformation. But these reports are almost certainly subject to fudging and obfuscation. After all, if a guy goes down with cracked ribs, chances are there was some bruising as well. So listing the problem as a "chest contusion" is not a lie, not exactly.

Some might question the integrity of a league that allows such weaseling. NHL execs would likely respond that the real injury info, revealing the specifics on those who are playing as well as those who are not, is the single most important file on their desks at playoff time.

Even the most casual hockey fan knows that good health is crucial in April and May. It might be the single most important factor in determining the last team standing at the end of the Stanley Cup marathon. No one likes to acknowledge this, because injuries and luck defy analysis. Compared to great goaltending and clutch scoring, good health holds little intrigue or glamor.

Is it any coincidence that the Tampa Bay Lightning will win the Eastern Conference and increase their point total for the sixth consecutive year, while reporting "no significant injuries" for almost the entire season? No, it is not. Tampa is an exciting team and worthy top seed. But in a race where six or eight points will seperate first place from sixth place, the Lightning's health advantage over its battered and bruised Eastern rivals looks like the team's greatest strength.

What if that advantage does not hold through the postseason? A report from Tampa Bay suggests that opposition players are targetting Martin St. Louis. Considering his physical stature - he's optimistically listed as 5'-9" and 185 pounds - and the fact that he enters the playoffs as the NHL scoring champion, he will have to tolerate plenty of abuse, some of it legal, much of it not. What are Tampa Bay's chances if St. Louis is sidelined for two weeks in April?

And if you were his coach, watching your MVP hobble off the ice, maybe taking your season with him, would full disclosure be your first priority? Probably not. Not when you could glance to the opposing bench and see several 220-pound defensemen would love to know exactly what his ailment is.