Legion34
Registered User
- Jan 24, 2006
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In Horton's case he needed a disc fusion surgery to regain any sort of mobility, but if he got the surgery he would no longer be eligible to play. If there's a 1% chance a Pronger, Clarkson, or Hossa can play again, they can sit on LTIR. If you have a surgery that guarantees you can no longer play in the NHL safely I think that complicates things, at least based on how the articles around Horton's situation were worded. They kept talking about the surgery ending his playing career and that he doesn't want to do it because of "what that would mean". After 1 or 2 full years of it being clear he can't play with his back as-is, why woudn't he get the surgery so he could not be in terrible pain every day if he gets to stay on LTIR anyway? There's no downside other than giving up on your 0.0001% chance of it magically fixing itself.
I don't think they would have made him forfeit all the money owed via forced retirement, they could just deem him ineligible for LTIR and force the team to carry his contract at full pop or buy him out as if he had retired. There were also cap recapture implications if he were to retire early IIRC. No one had a gun to his head about not getting the surgery but there were clearly factors for delaying it outside of strictly medical concerns and he suffered for years because of it.
If it was really the thought that any of these players could actually play again, then the league wouldn’t let a recovering player work for a team like pronger.
Tons of players go on LTIR. If all have at least a 1% chance of playing again then can anyone work for the DOPS?
More than likely “what that would mean” would be a 100% closing the door on his career and setting him up for future surgeries. Rather than If he got it they would cancel his contract. I don’t think your interpretation was accurate.
Remember eichel sat out to avoid the fusion. I’m no expert but I listened to the doctors on 32 thoughts who advocated against that surgery and it was a major issue to have as a young person for life. Maybe Horton thought the pain wasn’t bad enough to stop him from turning his head