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Most sports teams are pretty transparent about the nature of the injuries that players routinely succumb to over the course of a season, but it’s safe to say that is not the case when you’re talking about the NHL.
In the vast majority of cases, hockey ailments are classified as either an “upper body” or “lower body” injury while the season is still underway, an unofficial mandate that’s seemingly designed to prevent players from having weaknesses targeted when they’re on the ice.
Hockey players also tend to have a superhuman ability to overcome setbacks that would keep the typical person confined to their couch or bed for at least a week.
For example, Winnipeg’s Morgan Barron didn’t waste any time returning to the bench after getting 75 stitches to heal a cut earlier this year, and fellow Jet Blake Wheeler was able to finish a game toward the start of the season despite dealing with the testicle that ruptured when he was hit by a puck.
Guys in the NHL also seem to turn their Pain Tolerance dial up another notch when the Stanely Cup Playoffs roll around, as one of hockey’s greatest traditions is learning about the laundry list of ailments guys were nursing once their time in the postseason comes to an end.
Valeri Nichushkin was able to overcome a broken foot while helping ensure the Avalanche would raise Lord Stanley’s trophy last season, but that has nothing on what Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad was forced to grapple with over the course of Florida’s deep postseason run in 2023.
On Tuesday night, the Golden Knights secured the Stanley Cup with a 9-3 victory over the Panthers in Game 5, and while injuries aren’t the only reason Florida came up short, they certainly didn’t help.
Following the contest, Panthers head coach Paul Maurice revealed Matthew Tkachuk was unable to suit up for the final game of the series after succumbing to the broken sternum he suffered in Game 3, adding he was one of four members of the squad that had broken a bone at some point during the playoffs.
That group also included Ekblad, who was somehow able to power through the litany of ailments that only resulted in him missing a single one of the 21 games his team played in the postseason.
NHL injury reports as soon as the Cup Final ends are always bonkers.
Panthers coach Paul Maurice says defenseman Aaron Ekblad broke his foot in the first round, popped his shoulder out twice, passed a concussion test and tore his oblique all in the playoffs. He kept playing.
— Chris Vannini (@ChrisVannini) June 14, 2023
NHL players are truly built different.