Mysterious injuries and player availability status hovered over the Bruins-Maple Leafs first round series. What did the public deserve to know about those ailments?
Stop me if you've heard this one before, but last night, the Bruins won a Game 7 in Boston to take their first round series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Apr 13, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews (34) scores his 69th goal of the season and celebrates with right wing William Nylander (88) against the Detroit Red Wings during the second period at Scotiabank ArenaIt's a familiar story, though this year's Game 7 took on a different tone and tenor because the Bruins' anxiety approached that of the Leafs' after Boston blew a 3-1 series lead to lose its first round series against the Florida Panthers on home ice in Game 7 a year ago.
Toronto had real hope when it took a third-period goal from William Nylander, only for Hampus Lindholm to answer within two minutes, and David Pastrnak to eventually score the overtime winner.
This latest loss will surely shake the Maple Leafs future, with existential questions about the viability of the "core four" of Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and John Tavares now unavoidable and coach Sheldon Keefe likely out the door.
However, it was also a series that—thanks to unusually shadowy (even by ultra-secretive NHL standards) injuries to both Nylander and Matthews—raised fundamental questions about how much fans are entitled to know about players' health. On the most recent episode of The Silky Mitte State, my co-host Connor Earegood and I discussed this dynamic, at the level of journalistic ethics. You can catch a sample of that conversation in the video above.
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