BOSTON — Pro sports are an increasingly player-driven culture, and it makes sense. Players are clearly the most valuable asset of any organization, a fact that’s proven every payday.
But how much player empowerment is too much? The Bruins’ leadership group was as solid as you’ll ever find. But the aftermath of their stunning early flame-out makes one wonder if a little more tough love from above at the right moments would have meant they’d still be playing right now.
For the B’s, the player-driven ethos worked as well as it could possibly work. Until it didn’t. During the regular season, the B’s won a record 65 games and looked unbeatable. But there is no such thing, especially in he NHL. The B’s gagged up a 3-1 series lead to the Florida Panthers and lost in the first round.
When it was all over, we learned that Patrice Bergeron came back into the lineup in Game 5 with a herniated disc in his back. We know goalie Linus Ullmark was playing with some sort of lower body injury, the exact nature of which is still unknown. And just last week we discovered that defenseman Hampus Lindholm was playing with a broken foot.
In the B’s brass’ season-ending presser, coach Jim Montgomery said in no uncertain terms that Bergeron talked his way into the lineup for Game 5 and Ullmark did the same for Game 6. Considering Lindholm was seen in a walking boot after taking a puck off his foot in the March 11 game against the Red Wings, it’s certainly conceivable that he too convinced his bosses he could keep playing when he could have used some more down time.
There’s a whole mess of gray area in all of this. Hockey players play hurt all the time. In the playoffs, they even play injured. They play through some level of pain and they do it because they want to and it is expected of them. And they are celebrated for it.
But would it have been right for Montgomery and/or his higher-ups GM Don Sweeney and team president Cam Neely to keep any of them off the ice? Let’s take them one by one.
In the case of Ullmark, the answer is clearly yes, and Montgomery admitted as such. Regardless of any pain through which he was playing, he wasn’t the airtight stopper he was in the regular season. The coach conceded that he should have gone to Jeremy Swayman sooner than Game 7. To these eyes, Game 6 would have been the most logical start for Swayman. The kid would have been perfectly capable of pulling out the W. If not, you could have gone back with a rested Ullmark for Game 7.
Continuing to play Lindholm in the regular season is highly debatable. Even if tests didn’t reveal a fracture until after the season, as Lindholm told a Swedish media outlet, the fact that he was wearing a boot after taking the puck off the foot suggests there was more caution being exercised than there would be for a run-of-the-mill bruise. But after taking off the second half of the back-to-back on March 12, he was right back in the lineup, taking only one more game off on March 26, another second of a back-to-back.
In hindsight, it’s easy to say they should have bubble-wrapped Lindholm for a couple of weeks at least. On the other hand, when he was re-inserted into the lineup on March 14 in Chicago, he continued to produce, notching 2-4-6 totals in his next five games and looking like his regular self.
Could the foot have contributed to Lindholm’s 0-0-0 performance in the playoffs? Sure. But it’s just as possible that the gifted defenseman just didn’t elevate his game in the post-season like he needed to.
As for Bergeron’s return to action after suffering the back injury in the final regular season game, it’s hard to fault Montgomery or the brass for acquiescing to the captain’s desire to get back in the lineup. The B’s may have been able to grind out a series win over Florida without Bergeron, but they weren’t winning a Stanley Cup without him, and this season was all about the Cup. If Bergeron said he’s ready to go and he’s medically cleared, it is more than understandable that he’d be re-inserted in the lineup.
In his illustrious career, Bergeron has famously played though numerous injuries during the playoffs. He’s also missed some playoff games. If anyone knows the difference between being injured and being hurt — and be honest about it — it would be Bergeron. The notion that after 19 years of exemplary citizenship in the league and growing into one of the best leaders this franchise has ever seen he forced his way into the lineup for selfish reasons is ludicrous. Drop that hot take elsewhere.
Still, you can’t help wonder if a little more control was exerted from above the player level in any of those situations and different decisions were made, would they have finished off the ever resilient Panthers?
That’s a tougher second-guess than some vexed fans want to admit. But it’s just another painful yet understandable what-if to ponder in this much-too-long offseason.
