Ovi‘s Dick Piercing

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my primers and meta posts:

Sidney Crosby/Nate MacKinnon .pptx primer -> Sid/Nate: it writes itself | the early years | Sid’s fanon characterisation

German NHLers primer

The Ballad of Erik Karlsson

What the Fuck’s the Deal with Matt Duchene?

Personally I think both Brisson and Sid thinking Sid would likely retire at 34/35 because of concussions and be on LTIR for the last 3/4 years of his contrat is pretty sad.

thank you so much for sending it to me!! i’m soooooo fascinated by the entire convo and the conversations they were having at that time. you’re right, it’s crazy sad! It’s bleak as fuck! but in a way, this was just the reality at the time.

Like, this was 2012. People really forget what an insane timeline it was: he sustained the concussion to start the New Year 2011, did not play the rest of the season, did not recover over the summer and was out to start the 11/12 season, barely came back for 8 games in late November, and was out again until the last 14 games leading into the playoffs, where the Pens only played in the first round and lost to the Flyers in 6 games.

so Sid’s been out with a concussion for the better part of the past season and a half, and barely came back to put up 25 points in the last 14 games going into the summer of his contract negotiation. like, that’s a great points-per-game streak, but his health had been volatile, and in 2012 stats guys were still looked down upon as if they used astrology and tarot reading to predict performance instead of the cold hard facts (honestly, astrology and tarot might’ve been a more acceptable way to predict player performance).

On top of that, players barely played past 30, let alone well— the commonly accept career peak age at the time was twenty-five. Sid was due to turn 25 that summer; the common consensus was that the concussion (+jaw injury in 2013) stole the peak of his career. on top of that, every single other player who’d been out for longer than 4 weeks with a concussion before Sid never made it back into playing form. Eric Lindros— the best player to never win a Cup, unless perhaps McDavid doesn’t end up managing— famously deteriorated drastically when he suffered from concussion syndrome and retired a few years after being in and out of his team lineups. Diagnosis: concussion was an instant career-killer.

Of course this was due to the fact that the NHL was abysmal at dealing with player injuries until after Sid (and tbf in Lindros’ case the Flyers’ GM actually almost killed him at least once, it was a whole clusterfuck, the 90s were awful). Players were treated like gas or coal: burn hot, short and use them up until they’re ash. That’s not how human bodies work, of course: with care and modern medicine, correct physio and rehab, without reaggravating injury, you can absolutely get back into professional form after a grave injury. But back then the deal was: you get to do what you love, we pay you good money for it, and if you come out disabled or permanently debilitated, that was part of the risk of the deal. And no one had the patience or wanted to invest in long-term player health or a long recovery.

Honestly, it was fucking bleak. but at the time, Sid playing until 34/35 with the last 4 years being on LTIR? especially if his head wasn’t insurable? Sid and Pat probably saw it as a potential kindness on the Pens’ part; a generous thanks for the fact that Sid almost single-handedly saved the Pens from bankruptcy and being sold out of Pittsburgh when he got drafted. they front-loaded that deal for good reason.