Adam Foote may have been trying to say nothing at all but instead he’s whipped Canucks fans into a worried frenzy.
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Given Vancouver Canucks centre Filip Chytil just came back from missing 44 games with a concussion, you’d think his head coach would want to provide maximum clarity on his status after leaving Monday night’s 6-2 loss in Utah after just two periods.
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But the situation before Tuesday’s practice in Las Vegas is as clear as mud.
From the moment the Canucks announced that Chytil wouldn’t play in the third period against the Warriors, everyone held their collective breath until post-game, when Adam Foote would surely address his centreman’s status. Given Chytil’s well reported, well-told story, you knew everyone would be worried about his head.
Chytil has suffered a number of concussions in his career, though he insists not as many as people think. He returned to the Canucks’ lineup a couple weeks ago after missing more than half the season with a concussion suffered in October because of a heavy hit by the Washington Capitals’ Tom Wilson.
Post-game Monday, Foote did little to clear up concern that Chytil might be dealing with a recurrence of a head injury.
“They just told me he tweaked something,” Foote said. “We’re going to evaluate it.”
Given Chytil has insisted some of his past injuries that have been presumed to be concussions were actually neck injuries — whiplash or similar — saying he “tweaked something” leads one to wonder if that’s what he did.
But when asked in a followup question to essentially rule out a concussion rather than providing a flat “no” Foote replied “I hope not.”
Foote may have been trying to simply be noncommittal on a player injury — maybe he really didn’t know — but in this case, he didn’t help the situation. Don’t want fans to freak out? How about not giving them things to freak out about?
The Canucks have so rarely been level-headed in their injury updates, it’s no surprise people are in a tizzy now. A more consistent record of full honesty on player status wouldn’t have them in the situation. Too often the Canucks’ approach in disclosing information, in shaping their own narrative, has been reactive, rather than proactive.
And so now we wait to see if Chytil skates in Tuesday’s practice. If he does, that’s good news. If he doesn’t … well the discussion is just going to carry on while we wait for more explanation from the head coach.
More to come …
pjohnston@postmedia.com
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