Most professional sports leagues have injury disclosure rules. The NHL definitely does not. That’s why New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad‘s upper body injury that has kept him out of nine games and counting is driving the Rangersphere absolutely nuts.
The New York Rangers have been without Mika Zibanejad since Sunday, October 27. He was hit by Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins with a dangerous reverse hit that rocked the Blueshirts center and sent him right to the bench. At first it looked like he would be out just a few days and early reports were that it was a neck injury. When he failed to return to action, the speculation began.
Anyone who follows the NHL knows that injuries are often described as an “upper body” or “lower body” injury. That is not exactly a specific description. There have been numerous instances when an upper body injury is later revealed to be a concussion, hence the speculation that Zibanejad has a concussion.
Why doesn’t the NHL reveal more information about injuries? With the increase in legalized sports betting as well as fantasy leagues, there is no doubt that fans would like to know more about injuries. Yet, the NHL does not require that teams provide any specifics.
The National Football League has an incredibly detailed injury report policy. They are required to publish reports three days per week and teams are subject to fines if they don’t honor the policy. Check out this paragraph:
"“Injuries must be identified with a reasonable degree of specificity in terms that are meaningful to coaches, other club officials, the media, and the public. For example, leg injuries must be specified as ankle , knee, thigh or calf. Arm injuries must be identified as shoulder, elbow, wrist, hand or muscle. Listing an injury simply as “leg,” “arm,” “upper body,” or other equally vague description, is not acceptable.” – NFL Injury Report Policy"
There’s no doubt that such a policy in the NHL would be welcomed by anyone who follows the game. As for Major League Baseball and the NBA, injury reporting policies are part of their collective bargaining agreements and they are required to provide specific information about injuries and recovery times.
Why the mystery?
You can blame NHL coach Pat Quinn for the adoption of the upper body/lower body description for injuries. According to numerous accounts, it was Quinn who first used the term broadly because he was “tired of being hounded” by the press and it goes back to the prehistoric days of hockey when injuries were never discussed or revealed.
The Toronto Star reported that Quinn first used the term in the 1999 playoffs when he described an injury to Dmitri Yushkevich as an upper body injury when he had an injury to his left forearm. In just a short time it became part of the NHL lexicon.
The reason most often given about the lack of transparency is that it prevents players from being targeted. While that might have been the case in the “good old days,” it really doesn’t apply now and there seems to be no good reason for a NHL team to keep fans in the dark when a player is missing a lot of time.
When it comes to concussions, there is a definite school of thought from those concerned about the impact of head injuries. The Concussion Legacy Foundation is an organization that is trying to inform athletes and spectators about concussions and their impact. Co-founder Chris Nowinski told the Washington Post “Hiding the injury is also confusing to their audience, which includes youth hockey players and parents. Every properly managed concussion in a professional game is an educational opportunity, and by hiding the diagnosis, the NHL is promoting confusion around concussion signs in NHL players.”
At any rate, there are currently 106 players listed as injured according to tsn.ca. Of the 106 injuries listed, 39 are either upper or lower body or undisclosed.
What about the Rangers?
The good news for Ranger fans is that the team is pretty forthcoming about injuries. When asked, they tend to provide more information than many other teams. It can be something as simple as Kaapo Kakko‘s bout with the flu to Marc Staal‘s surgery for an ankle infection. The confusion over Mika Zibanejad was a result of the initial description as an “upper body injury.”
Due to the nature of the check and Zibanejad’s concussion history, when his absence grew from a couple days to weeks, it spawned a ton of social media speculation. In reality, Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic website had asked Quinn directly about the injury on November 1 and was told it was a neck injury and not a concussion and he reported that. In fact, several news outlets reported it as a neck injury in the first few days.
If you still have any doubts, just Google “whiplash” and you will see that recovery from such an injury can take anywhere from days to weeks.
Another Ranger who has been missing in action for weeks is prospect Yegor Rykov. He is listed as being on Season Opening Injured Reserve (SOIR), but there has been very little information about him. Blue Line Station asked for an update and the Rangers reported that he is skating and practicing with the team. He was placed on SOIR as a cap measure since an injured player cannot be sent to the minor leagues and this status provides cap relief for the team.
Rykov hurt his ankle in the NHL Prospect Tournament in Traverse City and while there were reports he was seen on the ice or in Hartford, this was definitive word that he is getting closer to returning to action.
Will it change?
The NHL leaves injury disclosure up to the individual teams and most teams let the coach decide how much he wants to reveal. They do have distinct rules against a team providing misleading or false information and teams can and have been fined.
With the league a few years away from a new CBA it’s doubtful that there will be any changes in how the league reports injuries. One big factor is legalized sports betting. With all professional sports encouraging and in fact, partnering in sports betting initiatives, this could mean huge revenues for the NHL. If the sports betting industry requires more information when it comes to injuries, you can be sure that the league will cooperate.