Thanks to Ted Nolan...

...we now have a new way to mask and/or hide reality from NHL fans.

Don't get me wrong - I have immense respect for Ted Nolan - I met him in person at the Chateau Cartier resort last summer when his QMJHL team was in town for a playoff series against the Hull/Gatineau Olympiques. In the few moments I got to talk to him I expressed my shock at how long it had been since he had been coaching at the NHL level and how he had to be due.

In almost no time flat, the New York Islanders hired him! Thanks, Ted - just leave me a couple passes at the door the next time you come to Ottawa!

Anyhow, I marvelled a few weeks ago when XM Radio host Phil Esposito said that Nolan absolutely had to be a finalist for the Coach of the Year award. I thought to myself that it would be ironic if he won it this year, for it would be back to back wins for him... only spaced what seems to be an eternity apart.

Two weeks or so ago his star goalie (who is in the first year of a fifteen year contract) got crushed in a game and had to head to the lockerroom. When asked the next day how he was doing, Ted Nolan announced that he would be day-to-day due to "general body soreness".

It seems like only yesterday that some Einstein of a coach decided to coin the phrases upper body or lower body injuries. The reasoning behind it is that when opposing players know that a given rival has a bad wrist, knee or ankle, they will focus on it and attempt to injure it further. Use of these phrases were, at first, limited to playoff time. In recent years it has even been used in training camp.

When Ted Nolan talked about "general body soreness" someone commented on how this was a "new one". I was annoyed and glared mightily at the radio. Time passed by.

This afternoon, upon hearing what roster changes would affect the Ottawa Senators lineup against the St. Louis Blues, I heard Sens coach Brian Murray quoted as having said that Christoph Schubert would be out due to "general body soreness". Not you too, Brian.

I get it - at work I have to make sure that I try to mitigate any chances that the agency be exposed to liability of any sort. NHL players are assets that belong to their respective teams. At some point, however, something has to be done to ensure that we the fans be allowed to know as much as possible about the players that some idolize.

That hockey is a business can sometimes be taken too far. I'm going out now, to see if I can find a get well soon card for Christoph - I hope his body feels better tomorrow.

Sheesh.