The Contrarian – X-Ray Vision
Thomas Drance
2014-10-19
The Contrarian discusses the problem of NHL injuries and disclosures.
Every season starts out with lots of optimism but it doesn't take very long before injuries occur. If the injury is to a player we have on our fantasy teams or on our draft lists we search for more details about the nature of the injury. People like our own Aaron Brouwer compile the info on hand to help us and we are all thankful for his
efforts.
In his latest update, “The IR Report: Week Two”, a Dobber member comments about getting even more information out of the league.
"But, I believe that the NFL cracked down on teams being vague with injury descriptions, in the recent past. They have to list all injured players, they have to be specific about the type of injury, and I even think the NFL watches for anyone exaggerating or minimizing severity. And I believe the motivating factor for the ‘crack down’ was fantasy football. Millions of people play it and the NFL wanted to keep them happy.
How long before the NHL steps up and does something similar? Eric Staal suffered some sort of injury to some part of his ‘upper body’ and is out for an indefinite period of time. That’s just ridiculous. I can maybe see loosening the rules in the playoffs, but in the regular season, I want access to the damn x-rays." wrote Corstyles.
I know that there are many others out there with similar thoughts.
In 2010 Eric Macramalla wrote on Offside Sports Law, “NHL’s Failure to Disclose Injuries Bad”, and he asked people to sign a petition for access to injury details. Pierre LeBrun said something similar in 2008, "Want full disclosure on NHL injuries? Vote for the LeBrun Amendment".
Macramalla claims "This is a problem for the NHL. By maintaining a veil over player injuries, in part, undermines the NHL's attempt to grab a larger market share as it prevents fans from engaging the league at a higher level. Fans don't know what's going on with their favourite players. As well fantasy players don't have the necessary information they need to manage their teams effectively. And we all know how critical fantasy leagues are to generating interest in a league. Of course we can't forget that gambling on games also generates interest in a league, and without good information, gamblers may shy away from hockey."
He also uses the technology argument, "In an information age, this just doesn't cut it. Accurate up-to-date information should be a given. It's not and that's a problem."
The gambling aspect of the argument is explained by LeBrun, "The NHL’s injury policy is the extreme of the most popular sports league in North America — the NFL. The NFL promotes full disclosure of injuries, releases weekly reports and enforces fines on teams who falsify those reports" and adds comments from then Toronto Maple Leaf coach Ron Wilson “Hey, why do they publish the injuries in football? You know why — Las Vegas. It’s all about betting. And hockey isn’t that kind of a sport."
LeBrun also explains the history of injury disclosure in the league and makes a case for his amendment, "Because there is proof of targeting, we can buy the players’ safety issue. But our argument would be that the policy should be amended so full disclosure still exists from mid-September (the start of training camps) through March 1 (the beginning of the stretch run). From then through the playoffs, teams can hide injury details all they want."
From the perspective of a fantasy league participant or plain gambler this all makes sense, doesn't it?
What about the view of a fan of a team? How about the perspective of the team and then what about the player themselves?
Does it matter to the fan about the nature of the injury? They only care that the player gets healthy again and to come back as soon as possible.
The teams and league as explained to LeBrun by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daily "Our clubs were very strongly of the view that a strict disclosure policy on player injuries was not in the best interests of our players, or ultimately the league as a whole. After much debate and discussion on the matter, we concurred that it was sensible to change our policy and lessen injury disclosure requirements going forward." Glen Healy who was a representative of the Players Association at the time also agreed "Anything that helps with the safety of our players we fully endorse. We have been presented with a safety issue [by Holland] and we agree with the steps to better protect our players."
To the individual player it gets even more personal though.
Imagine if your boss disclosed the reasons why you were not at work to your co-workers, clients, or customers. Not a huge deal if all you've got is the flu but what if it was something more and what if it could potentially mean that you could potentially earn less in the future? It is a huge privacy issue.
Now you are saying nobody is betting on your performance so no one would really care. People can find anything to bet on. It could be an over/under as to when you will return their phone call. The point is that does their gambling mean they have an inherent right to knowing the cause of your absence or injury? Do they have a right to the medical information because accurate and up-to-date information should be given"? The answer is no.
Now the NHL and NHLPA agree to certain things under the collective bargaining agreement and they address the issue of injury disclosure. Colin Bruchel of The Hoser does a great job of pointing out the various sections and clauses in "2013 CBA: Medical Information and Player Privacy".
He writes, "Whenever disclosure is authorized, it is qualified with the permissible 'may,' rather than the mandatory modifier 'must.' Further, disclosure is only permitted where it is 'reasonably required.' Public disclosure is also limited, especially where non-hockey-related injuries and conditions are concerned. Another concern was that too much information could be disclosed. By the operation of Section 34.3, the types of information that may be revealed, as well as to whom such information may be divulged, is limited."
In this absence of detailed injury information there is opportunity.
The guys at CapGeek know of this very well. When people wanted to know contract details that were not readily available, CapGeek found the information and published it. How many people view this and reference their site now? Plenty.
The same can be done for injuries too. All it takes is a patient and methodical group of people to search, document and publish the details. Imagine how many fantasy league players and ordinary gamblers would enjoy their services.
Until that time comes you'll have to endure the pain of upper and lower body injuries.
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