Saturday, September 27, 2008

Teams to withhold injury info

I believe this has come up already this week, but here's the press release from the NHL today:
At their June meeting, the National Hockey League's 30 Club General Managers voted to modify the policy pertaining to the disclosure of player injury information. The new policy, which takes effect immediately:

That's actually the entire release.

It's unfortunate really, that this is the direction they're going, but I find it hard to believe the injury information won't, in almost every case, leak to the press.

(Teams, for example, don't disclose player contracts at the moment, yet the info is easily available from numerous online sources.)

Be prepared for a whole bunch of upper- and lower-body descriptions.



At 2:21 p.m., September 27, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Bush league.

At 2:52 p.m., September 27, 2008, Blogger MotherPucker.ca said...

Yeah I agree that this is pretty bush. I think that full disclosure is critical to provide transparency in this league.

At 3:04 p.m., September 27, 2008, Blogger Comrade J. Michael Neal said...

I don't think the NHL is really the one that made this decision. I don't know what the law is in Canada, but the US has pretty strong medical privacy rules. Among other things, you can't waive the right to privacy as a condition of employment, so it can't even be a part of the collective bargaining agreement that teams must (or even can) disclose injury specifics.

I'm not sure why they ever thought they could do this.

At 4:09 p.m., September 27, 2008, Blogger Down Goes Brown said...

Gary Bettman's fan-friendly NHL.

At 6:13 p.m., September 27, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The NFL is in the U.S.
Fans know when a player catches a cold.
MLB is in the U.S.
Fans know why a guy is on the IR.
On the other hand, wrestlers mostly don't disclose their injuries. Neither do poker players, dart throwers and bass fishermen.

At 10:07 p.m., September 27, 2008, Anonymous Anonymous said...

And why would we care? If the player can't play he can't play. I don't want anybody to know about my injuries/sickness so why would we need know about Darcy Tucker's groin?
For legal or illegal betting? Well, that's a really good reason. Bravo.

At 11:18 p.m., September 27, 2008, Blogger YzermanZetterberg said...

Seriously, can someone please explain to me why we as fans need to know? More importantly, why should a team be forced to disclose any player's injury to it's opponents?

Just look at last season's playoffs, when the disclosure that Franzen had a head injury basically made him into a pinata on skates when he returned to the lineup.

Professional athletes -- especially in contact sports like hockey and (U.S.) football -- put their careers, future health and well-being, and potentially their lives on the line every second they're on the field. Yes, they are typically very well compensated for their efforts. That, however, doesn't mean fans, opponents, or leagues should have the right to set individual players up as targets under the guise of "full disclosure."

At 11:30 p.m., September 27, 2008, Blogger Comrade J. Michael Neal said...

.The NFL is in the U.S.
Fans know when a player catches a cold.
MLB is in the U.S.
Fans know why a guy is on the IR.

Sure. Reporters dig up information.

At 8:48 a.m., September 28, 2008, Anonymous baroque said...

In the NFL the injury disclosure is necessary so no one has any "inside information" when they are gambling on games. Betting isn't as important in hockey as it is in football.

I don't care what specifically a player has - because of the targeting by opponents mentioned by YzermanZetterberg. As long as a team is truthful about if a player is out or not, I don't care if he has a knee injury, shoulder injury, groin pull, sprained wrist, or whatever. I don't think of it as any of my business. Just keep him out until he's healed and can play again.

Not just Franzen's head - when any player comes back from a wrist injury, he gets a few testing whacks now and then from opponents to see if he winces. If it's a knee injury, he might get smacked on his back knee accidentally-on-purpose to see how it holds up. I think disclosure has the potential to do more harm than good.

At 11:37 a.m., September 28, 2008, Blogger Ebscer said...

I recall Lindy Ruff saying about a year ago that everything was heading towards being upper-body, lower-body. Still when the injury happens during the game it's often hard not to notice what the issue is...

At 2:08 p.m., September 28, 2008, Blogger Comrade J. Michael Neal said...

The NFL injury reports are vague, as well as criticized as often being misleading.

At 8:30 p.m., September 28, 2008, Blogger odessasteps said...

yeah the NFL lists are full of disinformation.


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