Joffrey Lupul may not want a second opinion, but the NHL does. Sportsnet’s John Shannon was the first to relay the news from a league source that the NHL plans to have the veteran forward evaluated by an independent doctor. It’s not surprising giving the recent allegations made against his “current” team. No specific time frame has been given, but one would expect the league to have interest in putting an end to this saga sooner rather than later.
It was only three days ago that Lupul turned heads around the hockey world when he publicly accused the Toronto Maple Leafs of “cheating” by keeping him on the Long-Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) when he is healthy enought to continue playing. Lupul, who turns 34 this Saturday, has not played in a game since February 6, 2016, having been kept on LTIR for the entirety of the 2016-17 season. When he went in for his yearly physical with the Leafs’ medical staff last week, he was once again told that he would remain on LTIR. Frustrated and wanting to play again, Lupul lashed out on Instagram and accused the team of mismanaging not only his injury status, but several past and “current” teammates’ injuries. Yet, given a week to seek a second opinion, Lupul announced last night that he would not. Many have taken that to be backtracking on Lupul’s part and perhaps an end to this issue.
Well, the league would rather get a clear answer than continue watching Lupul’s animosity boil over while he sits on LTIR, maybe injured or maybe not. An independent evaluation will set things straight, once and for all, whether Lupul is healthy and able to return to his playing career, signaling that Toronto may have in fact been “cheating”, or whether he simply wishes and believes he can play contrary to medical sensibilities. The saga continues, but at least there now appears to be a definitive end in sight once the league schedules the exam. Of course, a decision in Lupul’s favor would open a new can of worms, one of the cap circumvention variety…
Outstanding information Zach! Thanks for latest news in terms of this unfolding story.
Backtracking rather than getting his own second opinion is suspicious. If this isn’t legitimate, it’d be nice to see the league call him out on it rather than just let players rant and rave about it.
It’s suspicious on the Leafs’ part, not Lupul’s…
Explain, Terps?
Should be interesting either way. This evaluation will say a lot about the whole situation. Correct me if I’m wrong, but once the season begins the Leafs will still be under the cap even with Lupuls cap hit IF he’s deemed healthy? I think it would be tough to prove the circumvention idea and levy any punishment for it, depending on what the Leafs doctors report says.
No, they will be way over the cap if they get stuck with Lupul’s cap hit; like $4.5 million over.
Every player that goes on that list should be evaluated by a league appointed doctor after the team physician just to stop the cheating of the salary cap
That is actually a good idea. Stop having team doctors do these evaluations and have a league appointed doctor check all those on LTIR. Would eliminate any doubt or skepticism of those placed on it. When will the league step in and evaluate Hossa’s skin condition to see if it is legit?
Right now team doctors are a necessary fact of life in the NHL & won’t go away. My idea? Let the team doctors do an evaluation, write up a recommendation & let a doctor for the league complete their own. This will put an end to this in a very easy way.