SECAUCUS, N.J. (Oct. 11) -- As a person who generally likes to give others the benefit of the doubt, it would be my preference to take at face value the Maple Leafs' contention that defenceman Pavel Kubina's injured knee does not require surgery. The club arranged an MRI exam for Kubina, and the results of that procedure are known to be rather conclusive. Still, if you deal with the Leafs, as I do, on a daily basis, and have experienced the way management fervently stonewalls any attempt to gather medical information, any public submission from the team on the subject of injury must be open to question.
That said, let me emphasize that injury paranoia -- though not universal in the NHL -- is hardly exclusive to the Maple Leafs. The terms "upper-body" and "lower-body" have become commonplace through much of professional sport as a device, I suppose, to protect players from the wrath of opportunistic foes. Personally, I've always felt it to be a vast over-reaction, and I used to quarrel almost daily on the subject with Pat Quinn during his early years as GM and coach of the Leafs. Ironically, though, it was Quinn who proved again to me, last season, that the Leafs routinely hide the truth about injuries. And, that's why my antenna begins to beep when I hear and/or read a blunt comment from the club about any medical issue.
Let me offer a few personal experiences. Most Leaf fans should have a fairly clear recollection of the Eric Lindros saga from last season. The Big E -- now with Dallas -- ripped apart a ligament in his right wrist during a freak collision with one of his current teammates on Dec. 10, near the end of a Leafs/Stars game at the Air Canada Centre. Two nights later -- a Monday -- I was informed by a very good source that Lindros would not be able to play again in the NHL without first undergoing surgery. Any person who frequents this site, or listens to The Fan-590 in Toronto, will know that I stood firm to that stance, through roughly a dozen statements to the contrary by the Leafs. The club repeatedly told reporters that Lindros would return after re-habbing his wrist... first, by encasing it in plaster, then simply resting it. In the end, Lindros did try to play without surgery, but realized it was futile, as he had no stability or strength in the joint. The operation -- mandatory from the moment of the ligament tear -- finally took place in March.
Then there was the issue of Bryan McCabe, who suffered a groin injury during an early-January game at Edmonton, after a prolific first half of the season in which he stood among the NHL's scoring leaders. Two days later, in Vancouver, it was learned from the Leafs that McCabe was "day-to-day" with a slight groin-strain. When "day-to-day" turned into a week-and-a-half, I received yet another call from my medical source. It was the night before I was slated to fly to Denver for a two-game Leafs road trip to Colorado and Minnesota. The source said to me, "Howard, when you get to Denver tomorrow, ask Pat Quinn about McCabe having a tear in his groin, not merely a strain. If he tells you the truth, you might have a story."
The Leafs practised at the University of Denver and, afterwards, I followed up with Quinn on the issue of the groin-tear. The coach was a bit wishy-washy in his answer, saying something like, "Well, yeah, I've heard from an independent source that there could be a tear, but no one has told me directly." That could well have been the truth, as Quinn and GM John Ferguson were hardly speaking to one another at that point. A few hours later, Ferguson went on our supper-hour radio show -- Prime Time Sports -- and revealed to host Bob McCown that McCabe did have a slight tear. Why, then, was it described by the club as a strain for more than a week? The injuries are dissimilar in severity. Turns out McCabe missed three weeks; the Leafs collapsed in his absence, and he was never the same after returning.
The club also mis-informed reporters about a hand injury suffered by Jason Allison just prior to the new year. In a fluky circumstance, Allison was hit it in the hand by a flying puck, and it practically destroyed the bone-structure of his middle finger. He underwent a painful and delicate operation to re-construct the digit, and only his desire to play enabled him to return within two weeks. Again, however, the Leafs described the ailment as "lower-body" and claimed Allison was "day-to-day", inferring that the inury was not at all serious. Only when Allison showed up in Calgary a week later with a cast and full splint on his hand, did we discover the truth.
This trend has apparently not eluded the Leafs' new coach -- Paul Maurice -- known to many of us as a classic straight-shooter. Paul does now work, however, for Ferguson, and it's clear that he's willing to toe the party line. During the second period of a pre-season game against Ottawa in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sep. 24, young defenceman Brendan Bell took a wicked slash in the ankle from Senators' forward Dany Heatley and did not return to the match. Afterwards, Maurice was asked about Bell, and said the blueliner was kept out of the balance of the game "as a precaution". Which, again, indicated to reporters that the injury was hardly a concern.
At the same moment Maurice made that claim, however, Bell was sitting at the back of the Leafs' team bus -- roughly 50 feet away -- with his foot in a walking cast and his body supported by crutches, having returned minutes earlier from a Halifax hospital. "Precautionary"? When a player is sitting on the bus with a possible fracture? Here we are -- almost three weeks later -- and Bell is just now beginning to skate lightly with his teammates.
So, I ask again? Do we take as gospel Ferguson's contention that Kubina does not require surgery on his "sprained MCL"? Or is it worth at least considering otherwise? I know what first-hand experience is telling me.
E-mail
[email protected] 
Toronto Maple Leafs Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»