Which resident buffoon will be the first to drop a “screw him for hiding this and screwing over the Rangers cap situation” hot take?
Not that, but I am curious to know how medical experts on the Rangers missed a heart condition the doctors in DC found months later.
Definitely a good question. There are however many heart conditions that are acute--something that maybe didn't exist a few months ago, or maybe he had an underlying condition that was not presenting symptoms and therefore was not detected on any of the "usual" tests that they're doing. Who knows.
Yeah, I am not saying the Rangers are at fault for not noticing it per se. But short of an acute heart condition, you'd expect a billion dollar organization to be able to detect these conditions.
Not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things, just something that popped in my head. The buy out isn't going to be affected by this.
No offense, but what does a “billion dollar organization” have to do with anything? They have been known to be a first class organization through and through, therefore I am sure they have the best doctors on retainer essentially. If the Doctor(s) miss this it would be on them, although I would not be finding fault with them either. Short of the Rangers organization, Henrik, and/or the Doctors hiding this, there is nothing to say other than it is extremely unfortunate and sad.
The value of the organization isn't really relevant. Sometimes, conditions are undetectable until you become symptomatic, and the doctors then know something is wrong and to run really advanced tests to see what's happening. I have several men on my father's side of the family that died of this sudden cardiac failure, and there was never any warning--the only way (apparently) to truly know you're at risk for the condition is to see if you have the genetic marker.
If Henrik has something unusual or that wouldn't be caught through routine physical testing performed on athletes, and presented no symptoms, it wouldn't be surprising for it to go undiagnosed. It happens all the time, to people from all walks of life, those with access to poor medical care or the best medical care.
I don't see any reason to go questioning what the Rangers did or did not do right until/unless something that comes out which warrants further inquiry.
It's a legitimate question. Just saying that he has a heart condition could mean a variety of things. He could have high blood pressure, which is a cardio issue. I can't even blame Lundqvist or the Rangers since apparently the Caps doctors didn't pick up on it when he was given his physical upon signing his contract earlier this year. Hopefully, it's treatable. However, I think he is done career-wise. There are a lot of people that will be happy that he will never wear another uniform other than a Rangers uniform. Begrudgingly, I am one of them.
So it was a known issue that either was worse than originally known, recently got worse, or given the potential cardiac-related impacts of COVID, was determined to be too great a risk.
Or, something else. Who knows.
Water under the bridge now.
Players hide injuries to the extent they can to prolong careers all the time.
That said, it is not clear that such reality applies here. What did Hank know, and when did he know it?
And what he knew, how definite was it? Or was it a situation in a state of flux, in which (as it seems to have been the case) there was a prior history of cardiac risk at some level, but which was manageable? To what extent, if any, did that narrative change?
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Every athlete who wins their job is required to keep it by performance, and the corollary to that is they are entitled to keep that job unless/until someone takes it away.
Hank enjoyed what he earned. Shesty showed up. Shesty was taking the starter's job. Hank wanted more starts as the starter.
My pref would have been to get good price for Geo, and keep King as backup.
Then if Hank can still cut it next year, as backup or even third string, keep him at league min. If he couldn't perform any more, I would expect him to be stand up and do a Gehrig and take himself out.
It would be nice if somehow, we could petition league office and say we were not fully, precisely informed, which impacted our decision making. Then request if we could on that basis, undo the buyout and then either LTIR or let Hank retire and we give him job w/the org with an understanding that if and when he can actually play again he gets fair shot open compete for whichever slotting he can earn. Win win. Unfortunately, too much bruhaha for NHL to approve.
