from Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post,

This is the time of year when we get to hear phrases like “overall body soreness,” and watch as NHL coaches wince and shake their heads defiantly when asked about injuries.

This is playoff time, the time of secrecy and subterfuge and subterranean X-ray rooms manned by men who carry cyanide pills just in case they’re captured.

Really, it’s all so silly.

There is no hiding the fact it makes a reporter’s job significantly harder when the specifics of a player injury are kept hidden, so of course I’m frustrated. But by not disclosing all information available, you’re really keeping it from the fans, the people who pay all of the bills. All of them.

I understand teams think the more information they give out, the better it is for the opposition. If you don’t know how hurt a guy is, you can’t really game plan for him. But if they were honest with themselves, they would know injuries are not hidden from those within the league. It’s one big web — coaches talk to other coaches, who talk to agents, who talk to players, and very little is kept entirely under wraps. If just about everyone the ice knows what an injury is, why shouldn’t the people in the stands?

Transparency, then, is the answer.

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