Veteran coach Ken Hitchcock struck a nerve earlier this season when he decried the longstanding NHL practice of describing injuries in the vaguest terms possible.
An injury can be upper-body, lower-body or undisclosed, except Hitchcock and the Dallas Stars prefer to be more forthright. Defenseman Marc Methot had a knee injury, Martin Hanzal had a hamstring injury and Stephen Johns was dealing with concussion symptoms.
“Rather than go through the dance and play the big game, we just decided let’s get it out there so they can print it, move on and let’s get on with the subject of what’s going on on the team,” Hitchcock said.