Post-Game Talk: Wild 2 Oilers 1 in OT

[Pointteen]

Oilers have a busy schedule this week. 7 in 11 from Saturday vs the Ducks to Columbus on the 13. Lots of hockey to watch, but hopefully they don't get too drained. Critical bonus points coming up against the East.
Vengeance against the Sabres and then a Philly team that is very beatable. Columbus will be an interesting matchup.

 

[spot]

Swearing, anger, tears, and other outburst of emotions are indicators that someone may be concussed. Basically, it's unusual behavior that is the indicator. McDavid is WAY too valuable to sweat him missing a few minutes of a game in December. EDM fans should be happy that he was taken off and checked out. Saying that he should " tough it out" is the sort of thinking that destroys careers. We're talking about a possible brain injury, FFS.

I saw a guy who landed awkwardly on his chin? And appeared shaken up and dazed afterwards. Good on the NHL, and boo on the Oilers, for not taking care of the most precious resource they've had on the team since Gretzky. What did he miss, two minutes of actual ice time?

Good point on the fighting. Unfortunately, guys like Kassian and Gabriel aren't being protected by the league.

FWIW, I thought EDM played very tough front of net D, which is something they haven't done for years. Wild were trying to get pucks in to the goalie, who was giving up rebounds, but big guys like Nino, Staal, and Coyle couldn't get loose to get them or deflect pucks. Not glamorous, but it's going to keep you close in games that in the past would be out of your reach.

I couldn't agree with you more!! You must have either played a contact sport before or are working in the medical field. No need to respond.

We should absolutely be thankful that the NHL is taking care of their product and our saviour McDavid!! His chin hit the ice hard, highly probable chance of a concussion.
We need to protect our stars!

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

I couldn't agree with you more!! You must have either played a contact sport before or are working in the medical field. No need to respond.

We should absolutely be thankful that the NHL is taking care of their product and our saviour McDavid!! His chin hit the ice hard, highly probable chance of a concussion.
We need to protect our stars!

The Concussion spotter can continue to **** off, because I'm still sure Minnesota's spotter called down.

The Edmonton Oilers (OEG) have built SO Much of their future as a franchise, as a business entity, around Connor McDavid.

If you sincerely believe that the Oilers would be so short sighted to play legitimately concussed McDavid in a largely meaningless game against Minnesota in December, you're absolutely nuts.

 

[ResilientBeast]

The conspiracy theories never stop here on HfOil

 

[ToeMcDrag83]

Koivu ran our show big time last night. What a monster game by him.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

The conspiracy theories never stop here on HfOil

There's no long term conspiracy, it's just another spot in the system where the NHL fails to see what's right in front of them.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

The Concussion spotter can continue to **** off, because I'm still sure Minnesota's spotter called down.

The Edmonton Oilers (OEG) have built SO Much of their future as a franchise, as a business entity, around Connor McDavid.

If you sincerely believe that the Oilers would be so short sighted to play legitimately concussed McDavid in a largely meaningless game against Minnesota in December, you're absolutely nuts.

lol

Minny doesn't have a spotter, the NHL league does

 

[Insta]

Totally agree with all these points. I was at the game and saw McD fall and land flat on his chin and the first thing that came to my mind is that he's knocked out. A bit different that having a guys fist glance off of your helmet in a fight. It was ugly, and they did the right thing. When you're getting your ass sued off in lawsuits fro concussions, I understand why your err on the side of caution and I had no problem with the decision. Tough to lose your best player in a tight game, but player safety should be paramount.

He wasn't knocked out nor dazed. We saw several replays and he just looked like a guy checking himself for blood from his lip and making sure nothing happened to his teeth. I almost never see a guy pulled out of a game by a spotter yet this nothing play is the one they start at? Complete BS. Guys are hit way harder than this all the time without having to leave. If this is now the standard, you'll pretty much always be short guys on the bench.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

lol

Minny doesn't have a spotter, the NHL league does

So the league doesn't have spotters travel with the teams? So they have some understanding of what a player's "baseline" might be?

Why even have spotters if they don't have any idea what the players are like normally?

 

[McShogun99]

A regulation win last night could have been huge. Playoffs could come down to us and Minny (and Dallas/Calgary) for the wildcard spot.A regulaution loss could have been crushing as well. So I guess in then end 1 point is not so bad.Keeps us high in Pacific and on pace with Minny in wild card

I'll take a 61% chance of making the playoffs in December over what we had the last 10 years. If the team can play just over .500 hockey the rest of the year then we're in.

 

[Cawz]

Totally agree with all these points. I was at the game and saw McD fall and land flat on his chin and the first thing that came to my mind is that he's knocked out. A bit different that having a guys fist glance off of your helmet in a fight. It was ugly, and they did the right thing. When you're getting your ass sued off in lawsuits fro concussions, I understand why your err on the side of caution and I had no problem with the decision. Tough to lose your best player in a tight game, but player safety should be paramount.

But player safety isn’t paramoumt. Did Kesler have to take a seat on Saturday? He was hit in the head and stayed down for a few seconds a month after he got knocked out by Domi. They even blew the play dead since he was injured. And as said, why isn’t this protocol done after every fight?

 

[drewshoo]

I know this might not be the greatest time to say this seeing as he got a second star, but I can't stand watching Gus play. He is all over the place, can't freeze pucks, huge rebounds, is all over the place, can't track his huge rebounds, can't seem to manage to suck up shots and has terrible positioning. Yes, he had some huge saves, but he did nothing to help the team turn the puck the other way last night. I think the only reason he looked good is because he is not very good. That makes sense right? It seemed we got hemmed in a few times last night when he either kicked it back out to the blue line or couldn't freeze a puck that was a foot away. I'm probably just spoiled watching Talbot all the time, who is kind of the inverse of Jonas.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

So the league doesn't have spotters travel with the teams? So they have some understanding of what a player's "baseline" might be?

Why even have spotters if they don't have any idea what the players are like normally?

according to Spec on CHED like 20 mins ago, the spotters are in New York and they called it in after looking at the replay

then the Oilers trainers did the test

 

[joestevens29]

So the league doesn't have spotters travel with the teams? So they have some understanding of what a player's "baseline" might be?

Why even have spotters if they don't have any idea what the players are like normally?

Is there a baseline when you are talking about concussions?

 

[doulos]

lol

Minny doesn't have a spotter, the NHL league does

I am pretty sure it was Koivu that made the phone call himself. Think I saw him on the highlights hiding behind Eric Staal on the bench using his cell phone...

 

[joestevens29]

according to Spec on CHED like 20 mins ago, the spotters are in New York and they called it in after looking at the replay

then the Oilers trainers did the test

It's an interesting system. Why are the teams trainings doing the test? Seems counter productive.

Jamieson had an interesting point as he didn't know where the spotters are. But if they are in the stadium do they pull guys based on crowd reaction? I guess if they aren't then it's a non-issue.

 

[drewshoo]

Is there a baseline when you are talking about concussions?

They do baseline testing now for most athletes so that they have something to reference to when trying to get these players back on the ice. Not sure if that has much to do with the dark room procedure though as I think it's a more stringent series of tests. I am also pretty confident in saying that baseline testing has nothing to do with the spotters though and when they decide to call down or remove a player from a game. Spector was saying in last night's broadcast that one thing they look for is player's touching their face for one. All in all, last night's debacle was idiotic in the sense that Connor had already gone to the bench, whistle, play resumed and then back out for ~1 minute shift and then gets removed? Strange stuff indeed especially given how many fights happened last night and also Kesler's hit the previous game.

 

[Jimmi McJenkins]

Is there a baseline when you are talking about concussions?

Just how the players normally behave, so that if you see a change, it's actually a change, not something some random person isn't familiar with.

People watch on replay Thach? That's even worse.

 

[joestevens29]

They do baseline testing now for most athletes so that they have something to reference to when trying to get these players back on the ice. Not sure if that has much to do with the dark room procedure though as I think it's a more stringent series of tests. I am also pretty confident in saying that baseline testing has nothing to do with the spotters though and when they decide to call down or remove a player from a game. Spector was saying in last night's broadcast that one thing they look for is player's touching their face for one. All in all, last night's debacle was idiotic in the sense that Connor had already gone to the bench, whistle, play resumed and then back out for ~1 minute shift and then gets removed? Strange stuff indeed especially given how many fights happened last night and also Kesler's hit the previous game.

I just don't know how it will really work with concussions. I know Eakins had that one test so that he would check endurance which made sense, but concussions I don't know.

 

[drewshoo]

Here's a good article about it.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-won-t-budge-on-current-concussion-protocol-1.624128

 

[Insta]

Here's a good article about it.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl-won-t-budge-on-current-concussion-protocol-1.624128

From reading this, the problem is clearly the lack of sense in looking for 'signs'. There was video of him checking his mouth after hitting it, and somehow this is "holding his head". Rather than using your brain and looking for actual signs of a concussion, some guy is using a bizarre interpretation of a checklist to make this determination.

I have no idea what they were doing the night before when Kesler was clearly dazed after a head hit, where he ended up throwing his stick into the corner and falling to the ice. They say this applies to all but clearly that's not the case.

 

[drewshoo]

From reading this, the problem is clearly the lack of sense in looking for 'signs'. There was video of him checking his mouth after hitting it, and somehow this is "holding his head". Rather than using your brain and looking for actual signs of a concussion, some guy is using a bizarre interpretation of a checklist to make this determination.

I have no idea what they were doing the night before when Kesler was clearly dazed after a head hit, where he ended up throwing his stick into the corner and falling to the ice. They say this applies to all but clearly that's not the case.

Yea, not sure they employ persons with common sense.

 

[McFlyingV]

Is there a baseline when you are talking about concussions?

A baseline comparison is the only real way to properly assess a concussion on the spot. They have balance, vision, coordination, memory etc. baseline measures to compare with in the assessment.

As for people complaining about the spotter, he's simply watching it on a tv screen. He's not watching McDavid's behaviour, he's watching replays of the fall and making a call on whether he thinks the player should be checked out. My only issue with the spotters is that its my understanding that some of the spotters are ex-players, who are in no way qualified to be making these assessments. IMO if they want spotters they should at least be AT's or physician's who have experience working in elite contact sport. If I'm wrong on this feel free to correct me, but I swear I heard that they were hiring ex-players to do this stuff when it first was announced.

Edit: I just read the article above and it appears they are actually AT's hired for the spotter position, so disregard the portion of my post on that.

 

[Aceboogie]

In the end the concussion spotter took out McDavid for like 5 minutes. He didnt score in the other 15 minutes he played so I doubt he would have scored then

They had best interest in mind and I doubt the spotters were rubbing their hands together with glee they took McDavid out. Hell never say he has a concussion so you gotta protect people from themselves

People want players to be safe, this is the result.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

I am 100% on board with the concussion protocol.

I am against applying it differently based upon the player involved. If you're gonna take McDavid out for an extremely loose sign of him grabbing his face (AFTER HITTING HIS CHIN ON THE GROUND), then you sure as **** should do it for the hunderds of other instances where a player takes a direct hit to the head and is obviously woozy.